Search results for: Generalizability theory

Authors: R. Khenata, T. Djied, R. Ahmed, H. Baltache, S. Bin-Omran, A. Bouhemadou

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We predict structural, phase transition as well as opto-electronic properties of the filled-tetrahedral (Nowotny-Juza) NaZnAs compound in this study. Calculations are carried out by employing the full potential (FP) linearized augmented plane wave (LAPW) plus local orbitals (lo) scheme developed within the structure of density functional theory (DFT). Exchange-correlation energy/potential (EXC/VXC) functional is treated using Perdew-Burke and Ernzerhof (PBE) parameterization for generalized gradient approximation (GGA). In addition to Trans-Blaha (TB) modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ) potential is incorporated to get better precision for optoelectronic properties. Geometry optimization is carried out to obtain the reliable results of the total energy as well as other structural parameters for each phase of NaZnAs compound. Order of the structural transitions as a function of pressure is found as: Cu2Sb type → β → α phase in our study. Our calculated electronic energy band structures for all structural phases at the level of PBE-GGA as well as mBJ potential point out; NaZnAs compound is a direct (Γ–Γ) band gap semiconductor material. However, as compared to PBE-GGA, mBJ potential approximation reproduces higher values of fundamental band gap. Regarding the optical properties, calculations of real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function, refractive index, reflectivity coefficient, absorption coefficient and energy loss-function spectra are performed over a photon energy ranging from 0.0 to 30.0 eV by polarizing incident radiation in parallel to both [100] and [001] crystalline directions.

Keywords: NaZnAs, FP-LAPW+lo, structural properties, phase transition, electronic band-structure, optical properties

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Authors: Lin Dong, Fei Shi

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Based on the railway network and the principles of space syntax, the study attempts to reconstruct the spatial relationship of the passenger network connections from space and time perspective. According to the travel time data of main stations in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration obtained by the Internet, the topological drawing of railway network under different time sections is constructed. With the comprehensive index composed of connection and integration, the accessibility and network operation efficiency of the railway network in different time periods is calculated, while the fairness of the network is analyzed by the fairness indicators constructed with the integration and location entropy from the perspective of horizontal and vertical fairness respectively. From the analysis of the efficiency and fairness of the railway passenger transport network, the study finds: (1) There is a strong regularity in regional system accessibility change; (2) The problems of efficiency and fairness are different in different time periods; (3) The improvement of efficiency will lead to the decline of horizontal fairness to a certain extent, while from the perspective of vertical fairness, the supply-demand situation has changed smoothly with time; (4) The network connection efficiency of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions is higher than that of the western regions such as Anqing and Chizhou; (5) The marginalization of Nantong, Yancheng, Yangzhou, Taizhou is obvious. The study explores the application of spatial syntactic theory in regional traffic analysis, in order to provide a reference for the development of urban agglomeration transportation network.

Keywords: spatial syntax, the Yangtze River Delta, railway passenger time, efficiency and fairness

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Authors: Giang Vu, Duong Nguyen, Yuan-Ling Chen

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Vietnam is a fast developing country with highly economic growth, and Vietnam organizations strive to utilize high performance work system (HPWS) in reinforcing employee in-role performance. HPWS, a bundle of human resource (HR) practices, are composed of eight sets of HR practices, namely selective staffing, extensive training, internal mobility, employment security, clear job description, result-oriented appraisal, incentive reward, and participation. However, whether HPWS stimulate employee extra-role behaviors remains understudied in a booming economic context. In this study, we aim to investigate organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in a Vietnam context and, as a central issue, disentangle how HPWS elicits in employee OCB. On the other hand, recently, a deliberation of so-called 'black-box' HPWS issue has explored the role of employee commitment, suggesting that organizational commitment is a compelling source of employee OCB. We draw upon social exchange theory to predict that when employees perceive the organizational investment, like HPWS, in heightening their abilities, knowledge, and motivation, they are more likely to pay back with commitment; consequently, they will take initiatives in OCB. Hence, we hypothesize an individual level framework, in which organizational commitment mediates the positive relationship between HPWS and OCB. We collected data on HPWS, organizational commitment, OCB, and demographic variables, all at line managers of Vietnamese firms in Hanoi and Hochiminh. We conclude with research findings, implications, and future research suggestions.

Keywords: high performance work system, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment, Vietnam

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Authors: Peter Jin

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Ever since the recent resurgence of interest in political theorist Carl Schmitt’s work, much of the current analysis on Schmitt has fo-cused on evaluating Schmitt’s legacy by exposing contradictions in his rationale. Rather than condemn such contradictions, this paper instead seeks to analyze these contradictions in an effort to better understand the radical shift in Schmitt’s intellectual trajectory from an astute critic of liberal democracy to a fascist apologist towards the end of the Weimar period. An essential part of this change is his interest in what Schmitt called ‘the emergence of aesthetics.’ Schmitt diagnosed the underlying issue with the aesthetic in the political sphere to be its irrationalism, indifference, and indeci-siveness. For Schmitt, the latter two of these were especially prob-lematic for two of his key concepts: the ‘political’ and ‘the shared historical reality.’ Schmitt’s radical depiction of ‘the political’ as an existential opposition of allegiances that necessitated a state of emergency and a decisionist sovereign political struggle required an equally radical justification, or Schmitt’s call for ‘a shared his-torical reality’ not based in historical fact yet able to mobilize the masses. In this way, Schmitt clearly condemns the indifferent, indecisive aesthetic that runs against his decisionist, action-oriented political theory. Yet despite his firm stance against aestheticism, Schmitt himself used the evocative and irrational power of aesthet-icism as a tool to present his own ‘political myth’ that compelled believers to join in decisive unity against a common enemy. In short, Schmitt’s contradictions on aestheticism and his creation of a ‘political myth’ suggest that Schmitt’s underlying conflict with aestheticism was not as much of an issue of irrationality as it was a chronic preoccupation with coercing concrete action at the expense of rational deliberation.

Keywords: aesthetics of the political, Carl Schmitt, political myth, Weimar democracy

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Authors: Alireza Jalilifar, Nadia Mayahi

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An oral defense is the examination of a doctoral program in which the candidates display their academic capacity through sharing and disseminating the findings of their study and defending their position. In this challenging criticism-generating context, the examiners evaluate the PhD dissertation critically so as to confirm its scholarly merit or lack of it. To identify the examiners’ expectations of the viva, this study used a conversation analytic approach for analyzing the data. The research is inductive in that it seeks to develop theory that is grounded in the data. The data comprised transcripts of the question and answer section of two applied linguistics doctoral defense sessions from two accredited Iranian state universities in 2019, both of which are among the top Iranian universities on the list of Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In spite of the similar shortcomings and deficiencies, for instance, in terms of innovation, development, sampling, and treatment, raised by the examiners, one of these defenses passed with distinction while the other was referred for re-submission. It seems that the outcome of a viva, in an EFL context, not only depends on adherence to the rules and regulations of doctoral research but is also influenced to a certain extent by the strictness of the examiners and the candidates’ language proficiency and effective negotiation and communication skills in this confrontational communicative event. The findings of this study provide evidence for the issues determining the success or failure of PhD candidates in displaying their claims of scholarship during their defense sessions. This study has implications for both applied linguistics doctoral students and academics in EFL contexts who try to prove and authenticate the doctorateness of a dissertation.

Keywords: academic discourse, conversation analysis, doctoral defense, doctorateness, EFL

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Authors: Abdullahi Jibril, Rod Burgass, Antonin Chapoy

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Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is widely used in reservoirs to enhance oil and gas production, mixing with natural gas and other impurities in the process. However, hydrate formation frequently hinders the efficiency of CO₂-based enhanced oil recovery, causing pipeline blockages and pressure build-ups. Current hydrate prediction methods are primarily designed for gas mixtures with low CO₂ content and struggle to accurately predict hydrate formation in CO₂-rich streams in equilibrium with salt solutions. Given that oil and gas reservoirs are saline, experimental data for CO₂-rich streams in equilibrium with salt solutions are essential to improve these predictive models. This study investigates the inhibition of hydrate formation in a CO₂-rich gas mixture (CO₂, CH₄, N₂, H₂ at 84.73/15/0.19/0.08 mol.%) using multicomponent salt solutions at concentrations of 2.4 wt.%, 13.65 wt.%, and 27.3 wt.%. The setup, test fluids, methodology, and results for hydrates formed in equilibrium with varying salt solution concentrations are presented. Measurements were conducted using an isochoric pressure-search method at pressures up to 45 MPa. Experimental data were compared with predictions from a thermodynamic model based on the Cubic-Plus-Association equation of state (EoS), while hydrate-forming conditions were modeled using the van der Waals and Platteeuw solid solution theory. Water activity was evaluated based on hydrate suppression temperature to assess consistency in the inhibited systems. Results indicate that hydrate stability is significantly influenced by inhibitor concentration, offering valuable guidelines for the design and operation of pipeline systems involved in offshore gas transport of CO₂-rich streams.

Keywords: CO₂-rich streams, hydrates, monoethylene glycol, phase equilibria

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Authors: Farhad Arian Far, Anjanette Q. Eleazar, Francis Aldrine A. Uy, Mary Joyce Anne V. Uy

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The Unified Philippine Accident Reporting and Database System (UPARDS), is a newly developed system by Dr. Francis Aldrine Uy of the Mapua Institute of Technology. The main purpose is to provide an advanced road accident investigation tool, record keeping and analysis system for stakeholders such as Philippine National Police (PNP), Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Health (DOH), and insurance companies. The system is composed of 2 components, the mobile application for road accident investigators that takes advantage of available technology to advance data gathering and the web application that integrates all accident data for the use of all stakeholders. The researchers with the cooperation of PNP’s Vehicle Traffic Investigation Sector of the City of Manila, conducted the field-testing of the application in fifteen (15) accident cases. Simultaneously, the researchers also distributed surveys to PNP, Manila Doctors Hospital, and Charter Ping An Insurance Company to gather their insights regarding the web application. The survey was designed on information systems theory called Technology Acceptance Model. The results of the surveys revealed that the respondents were greatly satisfied with the visualization and functions of the applications as it proved to be effective and far more efficient in comparison with the conventional pen-and-paper method. In conclusion, the pilot study was able to address the need for improvement of the current system.

Keywords: accident, database, investigation, mobile application, pilot testing

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Authors: Rodlyn Remina Hines

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Africans who migrate to the United States (U.S.) go through an acculturation period. When they join the U.S. workforce during the period they are still acquainting to the new geographic area and culture, they may experience work and family conflict in addition to the stressors of acculturation. This study investigated the impact of acculturation stress and work-family conflict on the health and wellbeing of African immigrants in the U.S. using a growing immigrant population. Ghanaian immigrants (n = 100, males= 43%; females= 56%) residing in New York and Massachusetts, United States (U.S.), were recruited via purposive sampling to investigate the role acculturation stress and work-family conflict play on the health and wellbeing of African immigrants in the U.S. Using the Sociocultural theory, three hypotheses were proposed: (1) High acculturation stress will lead to high work-family conflict, (2) High work-family conflict will result in poor health and wellbeing, and (3) Work-family conflict will mediate the relationship between acculturation stress and health and wellbeing. The results fully supported the first hypothesis and partially supported the second and third. High acculturation stress led to high work-family conflict. Although high work-family conflict resulted in poorer health and wellbeing, high family support mediated work-family conflict and health and wellbeing. Participants who reported poor health also reported a lack of family or other support and those who reported strong family or other support also reported excellent health and wellbeing even with high work-family conflict. The latter group did not expect their health and wellbeing to get worse. I draw on these findings to conclude that African immigrants in the U.S. experience significant acculturation stress and work-family conflict resulting in poor health and wellbeing during their acculturation period if there is a lack of family or other support. These findings have implications for practitioners and policymakers.

Keywords: acculturation stress, work-family conflict, Ghanaian immigrants, health and wellbeing

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Authors: Asmaa M. Fahim

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In this elucidation, we synthesized different heterocyclic compounds attached to Benzene sulfonamide moiety via (E)-N-(4-(3-(4-bromophenyl)acryloyl)phenyl)-4-methyl benzene sulfonamide which is obtained from Nucleophilic substitution reaction between 4-methylbenzene sulfonyl chloride and 1-(4-aminophenyl)ethan-1-one in pyridine to get N-(4-acetyl phenyl)-4-methyl benzenesulfonamide which reacted 4-bromobenzal dehyde undergoes aldol condensation in NaOH to afford the corresponding chalchone 4. Moreover, the reactivity of chalchone 4 showed several active methylene derivatives utilized the pressurized microwave irradiation as a green energy resource. Chalcone 4 was allowed to react with ethyl cyanoacetate and acetylacetone, respectively, at 70 °C with pressure under microwave reaction condition to afford the 5-cyano-6-oxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridin-2-yl)-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide 6 and N-(4'-acetyl-4''-bromo-5'-oxo-2',3',4',5'-tetrahydro-[1,1':3',1''-terphenyl]-4-yl)-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide 8 derivatives. Moreover, the reactivity of this sulphonamide chalchone with NH2NH2 in EtOH and acetic acid, which gave 2,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-4-yl)-4-methyl benzenesulfonamide, 1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-4-methyl and reactivity with NH2OH.HCl gave isoxazol-3-yl)-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide derivatives. The synthesized compounds were screened for their ADME properties and directed to antitumor activity on HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma and MCF-7 breast cancer and exhibited excellent behavior against standard drugs; these results were confirmed through molecular simulations with different proteins. Additionally, the Density Functional Theory analysis of optimized structures investigated their physical descriptors, FMO, ESP and MEP, which correlated with biological evaluation.

Keywords: synthesis, green chemistry, antitumor activity, DFT study

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Authors: Nipun Ansal

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People guard their beliefs and opinions with their lives. Beliefs that they’ve formed over a period of time, and can go to any lengths to defy, desist from, resist and negate any outward stimulus that has the potential to shake them. Cognitive dissonance is term used to describe it in theory. And every human being, in order to defend himself from cognitive dissonance applies 4 rings of defense viz. Selective Exposure, Selective Perception, Selective Attention, and Selective Retention. This paper is a discursive analysis on how the onslaught of social media, complete with its intrusive weaponry, has amorphized the external ring of defense: the selective exposure. The stimulus-response model of communication is one of the most inherent model that encompasses communication behaviours of children and elderly, individual and masses, humans and animals alike. The paper deliberates on how information bombardment through the uncontrollable channels of the social media, Facebook and Twitter in particular, have dismantled our outer sphere of exposure, leading users online to a state of constant dissonance, and thus feeding impulsive action-taking. It applies case study method citing an example to corroborate how knowledge generation has given in to the information overload and the effect it has on decision making. With stimulus increasing in number of encounters, opinion formation precedes knowledge because of the increased demand of participation and decrease in time for the information to permeate from the outer sphere of exposure to the sphere of retention, which of course, is through perception and attention. This paper discusses the challenge posed by this fleeting, stimulus rich, peer-dominated media on the traditional models of communication and meaning-generation.

Keywords: communication, discretion, exposure, social media, stimulus

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Authors: Pei-Fan Mu

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Background: Lung cancer is the most common cancer with the highest mortality rate. Patients with lung cancer under chemotherapy treatment experience life-threatening uncertainty. This study was based on the broaden-and-build theory using intentionality reflection of the body and internalization of positive prioritization strategies to enhance positive emotions of patients with lung cancer. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use a quasi-experimental research design to examine the effectiveness of the enhancing positive emotion program. Method: Data were collected from a medical center in Taiwan. Fifty-four participants with lung cancer were recruited. Thirty participants were in the experiential group receiving the two weeks program. The content of the program includes awareness and understanding of the symptom experience, co-existing with illness and establishing self-identity, cognitive-emotion adjustment and establishing a new body schema, and symptom management to reach spiritual well-being. Twenty-four participants were in the control group receiving regular nursing care. Baseline, one month later and two months later, programmed measurements of symptoms of distress, positive emotion, and psychological well-being. Results: These two weeks of enhancing the positive emotion program resulted in a significantly improved positive emotion score for the experimental group compared to the control group. The findings of this study indicated that the positive emotion had significant differences between the two groups. There were no differences in symptom distress between the two groups. Discussion: The findings indicated that the enhancing positive emotion program could help patients enhance their life-threatening facing conditions.

Keywords: positive emotion, lung cancer, experimental design, symptom distress

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Authors: S. M. Samkeyat Shohan

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This study is mainly focused on the determination and analysis of the photolysis rate of atmospheric, specifically tropospheric, ozone as function of cloud properties through-out the year 2007. The observational basis for ozone concentrations and cloud properties are the measurement data set of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) sensor on board the polar orbiting Metop-A satellite. Two different spectral ranges are used; ozone total column are calculated from the wavelength window 325 – 335 nm, while cloud properties, such as cloud top height (CTH) and cloud optical thick-ness (COT) are derived from the absorption band of molecular oxygen centered at 761 nm. Cloud fraction (CF) is derived from measurements in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared range of GOME-2. First, ozone concentrations above clouds are derived from ozone total columns, subtracting the contribution of stratospheric ozone and filtering those satellite measurements which have thin and low clouds. Then, the values of ozone photolysis derived from observations are compared with theoretical modeled results, in the latitudinal belt 5˚N-5˚S and 20˚N - 20˚S, as function of CF and COT. In general, good agreement is found between the data and the model, proving both the quality of the space-borne ozone and cloud properties as well as the modeling theory of ozone photolysis rate. The found discrepancies can, however, amount to approximately 15%. Latitudinal seasonal changes of photolysis rate of ozone are found to be negatively correlated to changes in upper-tropospheric ozone concentrations only in the autumn and summer months within the northern and southern tropical belts, respectively. This fact points to the entangled roles of temperature and nitrogen oxides in the ozone production, which are superimposed on its sole photolysis induced by thick and high clouds in the tropics.

Keywords: cloud properties, photolysis rate, stratospheric ozone, tropospheric ozone

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Authors: Obiakor Casmir Uchenna, Ikegbunam Peter Chierike, Ezeja Perpetual Chisom

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Irregularities have been a major feature of the Nigerian political activities since 1999. The rate at which such impunities thrive in the country has made elections grossly unacceptable among the people because the outcomes have never reflected the wish of the masses. Conscious of this, citizens have subscribed to the use of social media in exposing the ugly faces of the country’s elections which have always been against the less privileged. This study is an exploration of the relationship between exposure to social media shared video-clips and the respondents’ perception of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. The general objective of the study is to find out what the respondents make of the election as a result of the video-clips shared on different social media platforms showing electoral irregularities. The study adopted survey research method in studying 378 university undergraduates from NAU, COOU and Paul University selected through purposive sampling technique. The study was premised on the theoretical provision of violation of expectation theory. Findings revealed that the respondents are well exposed to different video-clips showing irregularities on the election. It was also found that the respondents have negative perception of the election. It was concluded that electoral umpire, the government in power and the security apparatus violated the respondents’ expectation from the election based on the pre-election promises made to the citizens. It was recommended among others, that Nigeria must strengthen the various institutions responsible for the conduct of elections if violence will not be made the best option for the poor masses.

Keywords: social media shared video-clips, exposure, irregularities, elections, audience perception, outcome

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Authors: Filip Buruiana, Alexander Hall, Reimar Hofmann, Thomas Hofmann, Silviu Ganceanu, Alexandru Tudorica

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In-memory column-stores make interactive analysis feasible for many big data scenarios. PowerDrill is a system used internally at Google for exploration in logs data. Even though it is a highly parallelized column-store and uses in memory caching, interactive response times cannot be achieved for all datasets (note that it is common to analyze data with 50 billion records in PowerDrill). In this paper, we investigate two orthogonal approaches to optimize performance at the expense of an acceptable loss of accuracy. Both approaches can be implemented as outer wrappers around existing database engines and so they should be easily applicable to other systems. For the first optimization we show that memory is the limiting factor in executing queries at speed and therefore explore possibilities to improve memory efficiency. We adapt some of the theory behind data sketches to reduce the size of particularly expensive fields in our largest tables by a factor of 4.5 when compared to a standard compression algorithm. This saves 37% of the overall memory in PowerDrill and introduces a 0.4% relative error in the 90th percentile for results of queries with the expensive fields. We additionally evaluate the effects of using sampling on accuracy and propose a simple heuristic for annotating individual result-values as accurate (or not). Based on measurements of user behavior in our real production system, we show that these estimates are essential for interpreting intermediate results before final results are available. For a large set of queries this effectively brings down the 95th latency percentile from 30 to 4 seconds.

Keywords: big data, in-memory column-store, high-performance SQL queries, approximate SQL queries

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Authors: Ajay Pinjani, Minha Khan, Ayesha Mehkeri, Anum Iftikhar

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There is much research available on the benefits of adopting mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) in primary school classrooms, but there is limited guidance available on how to design such programs for low-resource and linguistically diverse contexts. This paper is an effort to bridge the gap between theory and practice by offering a practitioner’s perspective on designing an MTB MLE program for linguistically heterogeneous contexts. The research compounds findings from current academic literature on MTB MLE, the study of global MTB MLE programs, interviews with practitioners, policy-makers, and academics worldwide, and a socio-linguistic survey carried out in parts of Tharparkar, Pakistan, the area selected for envisioned pilot implementation. These findings enabled the creation of ‘guiding principles’ which provide structure for the development of a contextualized and holistic MTB-MLE program. The guiding principles direct the creation of teaching and learning materials, creating effective teaching and learning environment, community engagement, and program evaluation. Additionally, the paper demonstrates the development of a context-specific language ladder framework which outlines the language journey of a child’s education, beginning with the mother tongue/ most familiar language in the early years and then gradually transitioning into other languages. Both the guiding principles and language ladder can be adapted to any multilingual context. Thus, this research provides MTB MLE practitioners with assistance in developing an MTB MLE model, which is best suited for their context.

Keywords: mother tongue based multilingual education, education design, language ladder, language issues, heterogeneous contexts

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Authors: Sharifah Sumayyah Engku Alwi, Masrah Azrifah Azmi Murad

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The development of the information technology and Internet has been transforming the healthcare industry. The internet is continuously accessed to seek for health information and there are variety of sources, including search engines, health websites, and social networking sites. Providing more and better information on health may empower individuals, however, ensuring a high quality and trusted health information could pose a challenge. Moreover, there is an ever-increasing amount of information available, but they are not necessarily accurate and up to date. Thus, this paper aims to provide an insight of the models and frameworks related to online health information seeking of consumers. It begins by exploring the definition of information behavior and information seeking to provide a better understanding of the concept of information seeking. In this study, critical factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence will be studied in relation to the value of seeking health information. It also aims to analyze the effect of age, gender, and health status as the moderator on the factors that influence online health information seeking, i.e. trust and information quality. A preliminary survey will be carried out among the health professionals to clarify the research problems which exist in the real world, at the same time producing a conceptual framework. A final survey will be distributed to five states of Malaysia, to solicit the feedback on the framework. Data will be analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS 3.0 analysis tools. It is hoped that at the end of this study, a novel framework that can improve online health information seeking is developed. Finally, this paper concludes with some suggestions on the models and frameworks that could improve online health information seeking.

Keywords: information behavior, information seeking, online health information, technology acceptance model, the theory of planned behavior, UTAUT

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Authors: Nasir Mehmood, Muhammad Yar Khan, Anam Javeed

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This study aims to scrutinize the dynamics which tend to impact customer’s purchasing intention of Islamic credit card and nexus of product’s knowledge and religiosity with the attitude of potential Islamic credit card’s customer. The theory of reasoned action strengthened the idea that intentions due to its proven predictive power are most likely to instigate intended consumer behavior. Particularly, the study examines the relationships of perceived financial cost (PFC), subjective norms (SN), and attitude (ATT) with the intention to purchase Islamic credit cards. Using a convenience sampling approach, data have been collected from 450 customers of banks located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. A five-point Likert scale self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) through the procedures of principal component and multiple regression analysis. The results suggested that customer’s religiosity and product knowledge are strong indicators of attitude towards buying Islamic credit cards. Likewise, subjective norms, attitude, and perceived financial cost have a significant positive impact on customers’ purchase intent of Islamic bank’s credit cards. This study models a useful path for future researchers to further investigate the underlined phenomenon along with a variety of psychodynamic factors which are still in its infancy, at least in the Pakistani banking sector. The study also provides an insight to the practitioners and Islamic bank managers for directing their efforts toward educating customers regarding the use of Islamic credit cards and other financial products.

Keywords: attitude, Islamic credit card, religiosity, subjective norms

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Authors: Seongho Han, Dongkwan Kim

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The focus of regional innovation policies is shifting from a central government to local governments. The central government demands that regions enforce autonomous and responsible regional innovation policies and that regional governments seek for innovation policies fit for regional characteristics. However, the central government and local governments have not arrived yet at a conclusion on what innovation policies are appropriate for regional circumstances. In particular, even if each local government is trying to find regional innovation strategies that are based on the needs of a region, its innovation strategies turn out to be similar with those of other regions. This leads to a consequence that is inefficient not only at a national level, but also at a regional level. Existing researches on regional innovation types point out that there are remarkable differences in the types or characteristics of innovation among the regions of a nation. In addition they imply that there would be no expected innovation output in cases in which policies are enforced with ignoring such differences. This means that it is undesirable to enforce regional innovation policies under a single standard. This research, given this problem, aims to find out the characteristics and differences in innovation types among the regions in Korea and suggests appropriate policy implications by classifying such characteristics and differences. This research, given these objectives, classified regions in consideration of the various indicators that comprise the innovation suggested by existing related researches and illustrated policies based on such characteristics and differences. This research used recent data, mainly from 2012, and as a methodology, clustering analysis based on multiple factor analysis was applied. Supplementary researches on dynamically analyzing stability in regional innovation types, establishing systematic indicators based on the regional innovation theory, and developing additional indicators are necessary in the future.

Keywords: regional innovation policy, regional innovation type, region-based innovation, multiple factor analysis, clustering analysis

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Authors: J. Iqbal, Z. Zara

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Five new Acceptor-Donor-Acceptor (A-D-A) type small donor molecules (M1-M5) namely; dimethyl cyanoacetate terthiophene di(methylthiophene) dibenzosilole (DMCAO3TBS) (M1), dimelononitrile terthiophene di(methylthiophene) dibenzosilole (DMCNTBS) (M2), dimethyl rhodanine terthiophene di(methylthiophene) dibenzosilole (DMRTBS) (M3), dimelanonitrile terthiophene di(methylthiophene) methyl fluorene (DMCNTF) (M4) and dimethyl rhodanine terthiophene di(methylthiophene) methyl fluorine (DMRTF) (M5) were designed and theoretically explored their electronic, photophysical and geometrical properties via DFT best functional MPW1PW91/6-311G (d,p) level of theory with respect to reference molecules dioctyl cyanoacetate terthiophene di(octylthiophene) dioctylfluorene (DCAO3TF) (Ra) and dioctyl cyanoacetate terthiophene di(octylthiophene) octylcarbazole (DCAO3TCz) (Rb). Among the designed donor molecules (M1-M5), M2 and M4 represented lowest band gap value (2.480 eV and 2.47 eV) with distinctive broad absorption peak at 598 and 601 nm in chloroform due to the presence of stronger electron withdrawing acceptor molecule which pulls the λmax value towards red shift. Theoretically estimated reorganization energies of these molecules recommended excellent property of charge mobility. The designed donor molecules M1-M5, demonstrated lower λe value with reference to their λh, showing that these molecules could be ideal candidates for the transfer of electron with and M2, M4 are best among these as champion molecules with having lowest λe (0.006 D and 0.005 D respectively). Additionally, the Voc of M2 and M4 are 2.01 eV and 1.85 eV respectively with reference respect to PCBM. Thus, our present investigation suggested that our designed donor molecules (M1-M5) are suitable candidates for the solar cell and proposed for high and better performance for the small molecule based solar cell devices.

Keywords: dibenzisilol, donor materials, hole mobility, organic solar cells

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Authors: Chin-Hsiang Chu

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This article review the literature in the field among the marketing and aesthetics, the current market and customer-oriented product sales, and gradually from the practical functionality, transformed into the visual appearance of the concept note and the importance of marketing experience substance 'economic Aesthetics' trend. How to introduce the concept of aesthetic and differentiate products have become an important content of marketing management in for an organization in marketing.In previous studies,marketing aesthetic related researches are rare.Therefore, the purpose of this study to explore the connection between aesthetics and marketing of the market economy, and aggregated content through literature review, trying to find related research implications for the management of marketing aesthetics, market-oriented and customer value and development of the product. In this study, the problem statement and background, the development of the theory of evolution, as well as methods and results of discovery stage, literature review was conducted to explore. The results found: (1) Study of Aesthetics will help deepen the shopping environment and service environment commonly understood. (2) the perceived value of products imported aesthetic, consumer willingness to buy, and even premium products will be more attractive. (3) marketing personnel for general marketing management with a high degree of aesthetic identity. (4) management in marketing aesthetics connotation, aesthetic characteristics of five elements is greatly valued by the real-time, complex, specificity, attract sexual and richness. (5) allows consumers to experience through the process due to stimulate the senses, the mind and thinking with the corporate brand or have a deeper link. Results of this study can be used as business in a competitive market, new product development and design of the guide.

Keywords: marketing aesthetics, aesthetics economic, aesthetic, experiential marketing

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Authors: Thomas Trouton, Sebastian Tanner, Manvir Sandher

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The use of simulation in undergraduate and postgraduate medical curricula is ever-growing, is a useful addition to the traditional apprenticeship model of learning within medical education, and better prepares graduates for the team-based approach to healthcare seen in real-life clinical practice. As a learning tool, however, undergraduate medical students often have little understanding of the theory behind the use of medical simulation and have little experience in planning and delivering their own simulated teaching sessions. We designed and implemented a student-selected component (SSC) as part of the undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Buckingham Medical School to introduce students to the concepts behind the use of medical simulation in education and allow them to plan and deliver their own simulated medical scenario to their peers. The SSC took place over a 2-week period in the 3rd year of the undergraduate course. There was a mix of lectures, seminars and interactive group work sessions, as well as hands-on experience in the simulation suite, to introduce key concepts related to medical simulation, including technical considerations in simulation, human factors, debriefing and troubleshooting scenarios. We evaluated the success of our SSC using “Net Promotor Scores” (NPS) to assess students’ confidence in planning and facilitating a simulation-based teaching session, as well as leading a debrief session. In all three domains, we showed an increase in the confidence of the students. We also showed an increase in confidence in the management of common medical emergencies as a result of the SSC. Overall, the students who chose our SSC had the opportunity to learn new skills in medical education, with a particular focus on the use of simulation-based teaching, and feedback highlighted that a number of students would take these skills forward in their own practice. We demonstrated an increase in confidence in several domains related to the use of medical simulation in education and have hopefully inspired a new generation of medical educators.

Keywords: simulation, SSC, teaching, medical students

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Authors: Kjellgren Maria, Lilliehorn Sara, Markström Urban

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This article describes the counselling practice of school social workers (SSWs) with individual children. SSWs work in the school system’s pupil health team, whose primary task is health promotion and prevention. The work of SSWs is about helping children and adolescents who, for various reasons, suffer from mental ill-health, school absenteeism, or stress that make them unable to achieve their intended goals. SSWs preferably meet these children in individual counselling sessions. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse SSWs’ experience of counselling with children and to examine the characteristics of counselling practice. The data collection was conducted through four semi-structured focus group interviews with a total of 22 SSWs in four different regions in Sweden. SSWs provide counselling to children in order to bring about improved feelings or behavioural changes. It can be noted that SSWs put emphasis on both the counselling process and the alliance with the child. The interviews showed a common practice among SSWs regarding the structure of the counselling sessions, with certain steps and approaches being employed. However, the specific interventions differed and were characterised by an eclectic standpoint in which SSWs utilise a broad repertoire of therapeutic schools and techniques. Furthermore, a relational perspective emerged as a most prominent focus for the SSWs by re-emerging throughout the material. We believe that SSWs could benefit from theoretical perspectives on ‘contextual model’ and ‘attachment theory’ as ‘models of the mind’. Being emotionally close to the child and being able to follow their development requires a lot from SSWs, as both professional caregivers and as “safe havens”.

Keywords: school social conselling, school social workers, contextual model, attachment thory

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Authors: Jiangxia Han, Liang Xue, Keda Chen

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Despite the significant progress over the last decades in reservoir simulation using numerical discretization, meshing is complex. Moreover, the high degree of freedom of the space-time flow field makes the solution process very time-consuming. Therefore, we present Physics-Informed Convolutional Neural Networks(PICNN) as a hybrid scientific theory and data method for reservoir modeling. Besides labeled data, the model is driven by the scientific theories of the underlying problem, such as governing equations, boundary conditions, and initial conditions. PICNN integrates governing equations and boundary conditions into the network architecture in the form of a customized convolution kernel. The loss function is composed of data matching, initial conditions, and other measurable prior knowledge. By customizing the convolution kernel and minimizing the loss function, the neural network parameters not only fit the data but also honor the governing equation. The PICNN provides a methodology to model and history-match flow and transport problems in porous media. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed PICNN can provide an accurate physical solution from a limited dataset. We show how this method can be applied in the context of a forward simulation for continuous problems. Furthermore, several complex scenarios are tested, including the existence of data noise, different work schedules, and different good patterns.

Keywords: convolutional neural networks, deep learning, flow and transport in porous media, physics-informed neural networks, reservoir simulation

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Authors: Komal Kumar, Sreedevi Upadhyayula

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In this study, a two-stage process was established for the synthesis of HMF esters using ionic liquid acid catalyst. Ionic liquid catalyst with different strength of the Bronsted acidity was prepared in the laboratory and characterized using 1H NMR, FT-IR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Solid acid catalyst from the ionic liquid catalyst was prepared using the immobilization method. The acidity of the synthesized acid catalyst was measured using Hammett function and titration method. Catalytic performance was evaluated for the biomass conversion to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and levulinic acid (LA) in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)-water biphasic system. A good yield of 5-HMF and LA was found at the different composition of MIBK: Water. In the case of MIBK: Water ratio 10:1, good yield of 5-HMF was observed at ambient temperature 150˚C. Upgrading of 5-HMF into monoesters from the reaction of 5-HMF and reactants using biomass-derived monoacid were performed. Ionic liquid catalyst with -SO₃H functional group was found to be best efficient in comparative of a solid acid catalyst for the esterification reaction and biomass conversion. A good yield of 5-HMF esters with high 5-HMF conversion was found to be at 105˚C using the best active catalyst. In this process, process A was the hydrothermal conversion of cellulose and monomer into 5-HMF and LA using acid catalyst. And the process B was the esterification followed by using similar acid catalyst. All monoesters of 5-HMF synthesized here can be used in chemical, cross linker for adhesive or coatings and pharmaceutical industry. A theoretical density functional theory (DFT) study for the optimization of the ionic liquid structure was performed using the Gaussian 09 program to find out the minimum energy configuration of ionic liquid catalyst.

Keywords: biomass conversion, 5-HMF, Ionic liquid, HMF ester

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Authors: Sevcan Ozturk

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The aim of this paper is to analyze the twentieth-century Muslim philosopher Muhammad Iqbal’s philosophy of action in the light of the main issues of contemporary philosophy of action. Iqbal is one of the most celebrated and eminent figures of modern Islamic thought. However, a review of the works on Iqbal shows that most of the central concepts of his philosophy have not received enough attention. His notion of ‘action’ in its philosophical context is one of these concepts. One of the main characteristics of Iqbal’s approach is that he develops his discussion around the main themes of contemporary philosophy of action, which includes ontological and conceptual questions regarding the nature of human actions. He also discusses that action is the only way to develop human personality, and that the human being can only achieve immortality promised by Islam through his actions. Therefore, while presenting an approach that can be read in the light of contemporary philosophy of action, which has become one of the significant parts of modern philosophical discussions in the west particularly since the nineteenth century, he, at the same time, develops his own philosophy of action in the light of Islamic resources. Consequently, these two main characteristics of his discussion of the notion of action make his philosophy of action an important contribution to contemporary philosophy of action, a field that ignores the discussions of Muslim philosophers on action. Therefore, this paper aims at highlighting Iqbal’s contribution to the modern debate of action by analysing Iqbal’s notion of action in the light of the contemporary issues of philosophy of action. This will, first of all, include an examination of contemporary action theory. Although the main discussions of contemporary philosophy of action will provide the methodology of this study, the main paradigms of Iqbal’s approach to the notion of action will also be considered during the examination of the discussions of philosophy of action. Then, Iqbal’s own philosophy of action will be established in the light of the contemporary philosophy of action. It is hoped that this paper will cultivate a dialogue between Iqbal scholars and those working in the field of philosophy of action, and that it will be a contribution to the fields of Iqbal studies, philosophy of action, and intercultural philosophy.

Keywords: action, development of personality, Muhammad Iqbal, philosophy of action

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Authors: Haifeng Zhou, Tsungyang Liow, Xiaoguang Tu, Eujin Lim, Chao Li, Junfeng Song, Xianshu Luo, Ying Huang, Lianxi Jia, Lianwee Luo, Qing Fang, Mingbin Yu, Guoqiang Lo

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With the development of technology, countries gradually allocated more and more frequency spectrums for civilization and commercial usage, especially those high radio frequency bands indicating high information capacity. The field effect becomes more and more prominent in microwave components as frequency increases, which invalidates the transmission line theory and complicate the design of microwave components. Here a modeling approach based on numerical search algorithm is proposed to design various building blocks for microwave circuits to avoid complicated impedance matching and equivalent electrical circuit approximation. Concretely, a microwave component is discretized to a set of segments along the microwave propagation path. Each of the segment is initialized with random dimensions, which constructs a multiple-dimension parameter space. Then numerical searching algorithms (e.g. Pattern search algorithm) are used to find out the ideal geometrical parameters. The optimal parameter set is achieved by evaluating the fitness of S parameters after a number of iterations. We had adopted this approach in our current projects and designed many microwave components including sharp bends, T-branches, Y-branches, microstrip-to-stripline converters and etc. For example, a stripline 90° bend was designed in 2.54 mm x 2.54 mm space for dual-band operation (Ka band and Ku band) with < 0.18 dB insertion loss and < -55 dB reflection. We expect that this approach can enrich the tool kits for microwave designers.

Keywords: microwave component, microstrip and stripline, bend, power division, the numerical search algorithm.

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Authors: Rong Sun, Laihong Shen

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La-based perovskite oxygen carriers, especially the doped-La(M)FeO₃, showed excellent performances during chemical looping processes. However, the mechanisms of the undoped and doped La(M)FeO₃ are not clear at present, making the mechanisms clear may help the development of chemical looping technologies. In this paper, the method based on the density function theory (DFT) was used to analysis the influence of Ca, Sr, and Ba doping of La on the electronic structure, while the CO oxidation mechanisms on the surface of LaFeO₃ and Ca-doped LaFeO₃ oxygen carriers were also analyzed. The results showed that the band gap was decreased by the doping of low valence. While the doping of low valence element Ca, Sr, and Ba at La site simultaneously resulted to the moving of the valence band toward high energy and made the valence band cross the Fermi energy level. This was resulted from the holes generated by divalent ion substitution. The holes can change the total magnetization from antiferromagnet to weakly ferromagnetism. The calculation results about the formation of oxygen vacancy showed that substitutions of Ca, Sr, and Ba caused a large drop in oxygen vacancy formation energy, indicating that the bulk oxygen transport was improved. Based on the optimized bulk of the undoped and Ca-doped LaFeO₃(010) surface, the CO adsorption was analyzed. The results indicated that the adsorption energy increased by divalent ion substitution, meaning that the adsorption stability decreased. The results can provide a certain theoretical basis for the development of perovskite oxides in chemical looping technologies.

Keywords: chemical looping technologies, lanthanum ferrate (LaFeO₃), divalent ion substitution, CO oxidation

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Authors: Mohammad Soltani Renani

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The problem of evil is one of the heated battlegrounds of the idea of theism and its critics. Since time immemorial and in various philosophical schools and religions, the belief in an Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Absolutely Good God has been considered inconsistent with the existence of the evil in the universe. The theist thinkers have generally adopted one of the following four ways for answering this problem: denial of the existence of evil or considering it to be relative, privation theory of evil, attribution of evil to something other than God, and depiction of an alternative picture of God. Defense or criticism of these alternative answers have given rise to an extensive and unending dispute. However, evaluation of the presupposition and context upon/in which a question is raised precedes offering an answer to it. This point in the discussion of the problem of evil is of paramount importance for both parties, i.e., questioners and answerers, that the attributes of knowledge, power, love, good-will, among others, can be supposed to be infinite only in the essence of the attributed and the domain of potentiality but what can be realized in the domain of actuality is always finite. Therefore, infinite nature of Divine Attributes and realization of evil belong to two spheres. Divine Attributes are infinite (absolute) in Divine Essence, but when they are created, each one becomes bounded by the other. This boundedness is a result of the state of being surrounded of the attributes by each other in finite world of possibility. Evil also appears in this limited world. This inconsistency leads to the collapse of the problem of evil from within: the place of infinity of the Divine Attributes, in the words of Muslim mystics, lies in the Holiest Manifestation [Feyze Aqdas] while evil emerges in the Holy Manifestation where the Divine Attributes become bounded by each other. This idea is neither a new answer to the problem of evil nor a defense of theism; rather it reveals a logical inconsistency in the discussion of the problem of evil.

Keywords: problem of evil, infinity of divine attributes, boundedness of divine attributes, holiest manifestation, holy manifestation

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Authors: Zohreh Moghaddas, Morteza Yazdani, Farhad Hosseinzadeh

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Nowadays, data envelopment analysis (DEA) models featuring network structures have gained widespread usage for evaluating the performance of production systems and activities (Decision-Making Units (DMUs)) across diverse fields. By examining the relationships between the internal stages of the network, these models offer valuable insights to managers and decision-makers regarding the performance of each stage and its impact on the overall network. To further empower system decision-makers, the inverse data envelopment analysis (IDEA) model has been introduced. This model allows the estimation of crucial information for estimating parameters while keeping the efficiency score unchanged or improved, enabling analysis of the sensitivity of system inputs or outputs according to managers' preferences. This empowers managers to apply their preferences and policies on resources, such as inputs and outputs, and analyze various aspects like production, resource allocation processes, and resource efficiency enhancement within the system. The results obtained can be instrumental in making informed decisions in the future. The top result of this study is an analysis of infeasibility and incorrect estimation that may arise in the theory and application of the inverse model of data envelopment analysis with network structures. By addressing these pitfalls, novel protocols are proposed to circumvent these shortcomings effectively. Subsequently, several theoretical and applied problems are examined and resolved through insightful case studies.

Keywords: inverse models of data envelopment analysis, series network, estimation of inputs and outputs, efficiency, resource allocation, sensitivity analysis, infeasibility

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Authors: Jessica Wood, Serge Desmarais

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There has been recent resurgence in the popular and academic interest of consensual non-monogamous (CNM) relationships- an umbrella term that defines relationships in which each partner has openly agreed to engage in additional romantic and/or sexual relationships outside of their primary partnership. Despite an increase in the academic study of CNM, little psychological attention has been paid to the study of CNM, with the consideration of these relationships commonly occurring within related social science disciplines such as sociology or anthropology. As a discipline, psychology has a history of conducting research in the area of intimate relationships, and psychologists have amassed a wealth of theoretical knowledge in this field. However, historically individuals who engage in "alternative" sexual and romantic behaviours, such as non-heterosexual sex or sex with multiple partners have been pathologized within psychological research. Individuals in CNM relationships or individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or queer have often been excluded from research or “othered” in psychological interpretations of what healthy relationships entail. Thus, our current theoretical understandings of romantic relationships are limited to heterosexual, monogamous relationships. The goal of this presentation is to examine commonly cited components of relationship satisfaction (e.g., commitment, communication) and to critically assess how CNM experiences are presented in, or missing from, the psychological literature on romantic relationships. Additionally, the presentation will also consider how CNM relationships may add to our understanding or enhancement of traditional psychological theories and address issues related to heteronormativity and mononormativity within the discipline. Finally, we will close with a consideration of additional theoretical perspectives that may aid in our understanding of CNM relationships and suggest directions for future research.

Keywords: heteronormativity, mononormativity, psychological research, diverse relationships, gender, sexuality, feminism, queer theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 383