Search results for: social cognitive training

Authors: Maria Luiza Fulga, Georgeta Truca, Mihaela Alexandru, Andriescu Mariana, Crin Marcean

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The significance of nursing as a subject in the post-secondary healthcare curriculum is a major. We aimed to enable our students to assess the patient's risk, to establish prevention measures and to adapt to a specific learning context, in order to acquire the skills and abilities necessary for the nursing profession. In order to achieve these objectives, during the three years of study, teachers put an emphasis on acquiring communication skills, because in our country after the first cycle of hospital accreditation concluded in 2016, the National Authority for Quality of Health Management has introduced the criteria for the implementation and application of the nursing process according to the accreditation standards. According to these requirements, the nurse has to carry out the nursing assessment, based on communication as a distinct component, so that they can identify nursing diagnoses and implement the nursing plan. In this respect, we, the teachers, have refocused, by approaching various teaching strategies and preparing students for the real context of learning and applying what they learn. In the educational process, the tutors in the hospitals have an important role to play in acquiring professional skills. Students perform their activity in the hospital in accordance with the curriculum, in order to verify the practical applicability of the theoretical knowledge acquired in the school classes and also have the opportunity to acquire their skills in a real learning context. In clinical education, the student nurse learns in the middle of a guidance team which includes a practice tutor, who is a nurse that takes responsibility for the practical/clinical learning of the students in their field of activity. In achieving this objective, the tutor's abilities involve pedagogical knowledge, knowledge for the good of the individual and nursing theory, in order to be able to guide clinical practice in accordance with current requirements. The aim of this study is to find out the students’ confidence level in practice tutors in hospitals, the students’ degree of satisfaction in the pedagogical skills of the tutors and the practical applicability of the theoretical knowledge. In this study, we used as a method of investigation a student satisfaction questionnaire regarding the clinical practice in the hospital and the sample of the survey consisted of 100 students aged between 20 and 50 years, from the first, second and third year groups, with the General Nurse specialty (nurses responsible for general care), from 'Fundeni' Healthcare Post-Secondary School, Bucharest, Romania. Following the analysis of the data provided, we arrived the conclusion that the hospital tutor needs to improve his/her pedagogical skills, the knowledge of nursing diagnostics, and the implementation of the nursing plan, so that the applicability of the theoretical notions would be increased. Future plans include the pedagogical training of the medical staff, as well as updating the knowledge needed to implement the nursing process in order to meet current requirements.

Keywords: clinical training, nursing process, pedagogical skills, tutor

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Authors: Yu Zhang, Pedro Desouza

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Since big data has become substantially more accessible and manageable due to the development of powerful tools for dealing with unstructured data, people are eager to mine information from social media resources that could not be handled in the past. Sentiment analysis, as a novel branch of text mining, has in the last decade become increasingly important in marketing analysis, customer risk prediction and other fields. Scientists and researchers have undertaken significant work in creating and improving their sentiment models. In this paper, we present a concept of selecting appropriate classifiers based on the features and qualities of data sources by comparing the performances of five classifiers with three popular social media data sources: Twitter, Amazon Customer Reviews, and Movie Reviews. We introduced a couple of innovative models that outperform traditional sentiment classifiers for these data sources, and provide insights on how to further improve the predictive power of sentiment analysis. The modelling and testing work was done in R and Greenplum in-database analytic tools.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, social media, Twitter, Amazon, data mining, machine learning, text mining

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Authors: Shringika Soni, Utkarsh Jain, Nidhi Chauhan

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Aptamers are recently discovered ~80-100 bp long artificial oligonucleotides that not only demonstrated their applications in therapeutics; it is tremendously used in diagnostic and sensing application to detect different biomarkers and drugs. Synthesizing aptamers for proteins or genomic template is comparatively feasible in laboratory, but drugs or other chemical target based aptamers require major specification and proper optimization and validation. One has to optimize all selection, amplification, and characterization steps of the end product, which is extremely time-consuming. Therefore, we performed asymmetric PCR (polymerase chain reaction) for random oligonucleotides pool synthesis, and further use them in Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) for anti-psychotic drugs based aptamers synthesis. Anti-psychotic drugs are major tranquilizers to control psychosis for proper cognitive functions. Though their low medical use, their misuse may lead to severe medical condition as addiction and can promote crime in social and economical impact. In this work, we have approached the in-vitro SELEX method for ssDNA synthesis for anti-psychotic drugs (in this case ‘target’) based aptamer synthesis. The study was performed in three stages, where first stage included synthesis of random oligonucleotides pool via asymmetric PCR where end product was analyzed with electrophoresis and purified for further stages. The purified oligonucleotide pool was incubated in SELEX buffer, and further partition was performed in the next stage to obtain target specific aptamers. The isolated oligonucleotides are characterized and quantified after each round of partition, and significant results were obtained. After the repetitive partition and amplification steps of target-specific oligonucleotides, final stage included sequencing of end product. We can confirm the specific sequence for anti-psychoactive drugs, which will be further used in diagnostic application in clinical and forensic set-up.

Keywords: anti-psychotic drugs, aptamer, biosensor, ssDNA, SELEX

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Authors: Miguel Nino

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When considering the challenges of a changing and demanding globalizing world, it is important to reflect on how university students will be prepared for the realities of internationalization, marketization and intercultural conversation. The present study is an interdisciplinary program designed to respond to the needs of the global community. The proposal bridges the humanities and science through three different fields: Languages, graphic design and computer science, specifically, fundamentals of programming such as python, java script and software animation. Therefore, the goal of the four year program is twofold: First, enable students for intercultural communication between English and other languages such as Spanish, Mandarin, French or German. Second, students will acquire knowledge in practical software and relevant employable skills to collaborate in assisted computer projects that most probable will require essential programing background in interpreted or compiled languages. In order to become inclusive and constructivist, the cognitive linguistics approach is suggested for the three different fields, particularly for languages that rely on the traditional method of repetition. This methodology will help students develop their creativity and encourage them to become independent problem solving individuals, as languages enhance their common ground of interaction for culture and technology. Participants in this course of study will be evaluated in their second language acquisition at the Intermediate-High level. For graphic design and computer science students will apply their creative digital skills, as well as their critical thinking skills learned from the cognitive linguistics approach, to collaborate on a group project design to find solutions for media web design problems or marketing experimentation for a company or the community. It is understood that it will be necessary to apply programming knowledge and skills to deliver the final product. In conclusion, the program equips students with linguistics knowledge and skills to be competent in intercultural communication, where English, the lingua franca, remains the medium for marketing and product delivery. In addition to their employability, students can expand their knowledge and skills in digital humanities, computational linguistics, or increase their portfolio in advertising and marketing. These students will be the global human capital for the competitive globalizing community.

Keywords: curriculum, international, languages, technology

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Authors: Yasser Almazrua

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Terrorism is a multidimensional phenomenon that has increased recently. Many countries started combating terrorism through security forces; however, there has been relatively little attention given to rehabilitation programs for people involved in such terrorism acts. In Saudi Arabia, after facing so many terrorist attacks, they started understanding and countering terrorism differently by establishing Mohammad bin Naif Counselling and Care Center in 2006. The center now is considered one of the top experience centers in the world for terrorist rehabilitation and ideology correction. The center offers different programs such as training, educational, social, art and psychological programs. One of the approaches that have been used by psychological experts at the center is Narrative Therapy. It is a therapeutic approach that focuses on the ability of the client to identify their personal life story. The client during therapy works as a storyteller where he or she gets insight, meaning and better understanding of their own lives. Because each client at the center had a story, it can be better fit method for rehabilitation towards healing and personal development. The case describes a 34-years-old man who was involved in some terrorism activities locally by technically and financially supporting a terrorist group related to Al-Qaida. The beneficiary joined Mohammad bin Naif Counseling and Care Center after serving his sentence. Informed of consent has been given to the beneficiary before starting the therapeutic program. Both qualitative and quantitative data on the beneficiary are collected by self-reporting during the initial session, and by using a psychological measurement. The result found that the beneficiary was not insightful about himself, and he had a high level of repression which relatedly moved him to be targeted for recruitment in the terrorist group. With rehabilitation and by using the therapeutic approach, the beneficiary improved on the level of insight, specifically about himself and also about the experience. This case illustrates the importance of considering the effect of Narrative Therapy in terrorist rehabilitation programs.

Keywords: narrative therapy, rehabilitation, Saudi Arabia, terrorism

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Authors: Wipakon Sonsnam, Kanya Napapongsa

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The quantitative aim of the study; 1) health conditions, to examine the state of health of the aging, 2) perceived of self-efficacy, self-care of aging ,3) perceived of social support of the aging, 4) to examine factors associated with self-efficacy in enhancing the health and self-care when illness. 100 samples selected from communities in Dusit, Bangkok, 2014 by random sampling. The questionnaires were used to collect data have 5-point rating scale, consisting of strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree; approved content valid by 3 experts, reliability coefficients alpha was .784 for perceived of self-efficacy, self-care of aging and .827 for perceived of social support of the aging. ST-5, 2Q used for collect mental health. The ability to engage in a daily routine was collected by Barthel ADL index. Founding, the sample group were female (68%). (33%) of them were in the age of 60-65. Most of them were married and still live with their spouse (55%) and do not work (38%). The average annual income was less than 10,000 baht supported by child. Most people think that income was adequate (49.0%) and Satisfaction (61.0%). Most of aging caring them-self, followed by them spouse (26%). Welfare of the public had supported, living for the aging (100%), followed by Join and health volunteers in communities (23%). In terms of health, (53%) of the sample group feels health was fair, hypertension was the most common health condition among sample group (68%), following by diabetes (55%). About eyesight, (42%) have visual acuity. (59.0%) do not need hearing aids. 84% have more than 20 teeth remaining, and have no problem with chewing (61%). In terms of Ability to engage in a daily routine, most of people (84%) in sample group are in type 1. (91%) of the participants don’t have bladder incontinence. For mental condition, (82%) do not have insomnia. (87%) do not have anxiety. (96%) do not have depression. However, (77%) of the sample group is facing stress. In terms of environment in home, bathroom in the home (90.0%) and floor of bathroom was slippery (91.0%). (48%) of the sample group has the skills of how to look after themselves while being sick, and how to keep up healthy lifestyle. Besides, some other factors, such as gender, age and educational background are related to the health perception. The statistical significance was <0.05. Suggestion: The instruments available to national standards such as ST-5, 2Q and Barthel ADL index. Reliability coefficients alpha was .784 for perceived of self-efficacy, self-care of aging and .827 for perceived of social support of the aging. The instrument used to collect perceived of social support must be further developed to study level of influence of social support that affect the health of elderly.

Keywords: ้health status, perception of aging, self-efficacy, social support

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Authors: Jordan Daud, Satriya Wibawa, Wahyu Wardhana

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In the summer of 2014, the leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria proclaimed the founding of religious-political system known as the caliphate which titled Islamic State (IS). As Caliph, Abu Bakr Baghdadi advocated Jihad from the Ummah (the Muslim community) to defend the Islamic state from unbelievers. This call for Jihad by IS had encouraged some radical organization in Southeast Asia pledge allegiance to IS and established bases for IS operation in Southeast Asia. This development had increased security concern for possible terrorism action in Southeast Asia, which currently not very active due to counterterrorism efforts from ASEAN member states and its cooperation with the world. This paper firstly tries to draw understanding from Ulema (Muslim cleric) about the conception of caliphate and Jihad based on Quran and Hadith. Secondly, this paper will elaborate counterterrorism efforts from ASEAN countries to prevent radicalization and terrorism act in addressing the call for jihad to establish IS in Southeast Asia. The third, this paper will recommend the role of the social community, especially Ulema, in Southeast Asia to prevent the misunderstanding of Jihad which usually used by terrorist to justify their action. Hopefully, this social community role will decrease the radicalization of Muslim community in Southeast Asia alongside with the counterterrorism efforts to create secure and stable ASEAN community based on shared norm and values.

Keywords: caliphate, jihad, ASEAN, counterterrorism, social community

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Authors: Muhammad Fadli Muslimin

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Negeri Para Bedebah is known as one of the works of Tere Liye, an Indonesia author. In the literary works, the fiction as always tries to reflect the reality of the society where the author or the social groups lived in. The essential or nature of society is generally a reality while literary work is fiction and both of them are social fact. Negeri Para Bedebah is a novel fiction which is a social fact and which holds an important role in reality. It is more likely as the representation of social, economy and politic aspects in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to reveal the world view of Tere Liye throughout novel Negeri Para Bedebah. By analyzing the object using genetic structuralism Lucien Goldmann which chiefly focuses on world view, it is stated that the literary work is an structure and it has homology with the structure in society. The structure of literary work is not chiefly homolog to the structure of society but homolog to the world view which is growing and developing inside the society. The methodological research used in this paper is a dialectic method which focuses on the starting and ending points lied in the literary text by paying attention to the coherent meanings. The result of this study is that Tere Liye shows us his world view about the structure of the society where he is living in, but one is an imaginative form of the world and the homology to the reality itself.

Keywords: homology, literary work, society, structure, world view

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Authors: Sara Fioretti

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During the Middle Bronze Age, southern Italy underwent a reorganisation of social structures where local cultures, such as the sub-Apennine and Nuragic, flourished and participated in maritime trade. This paper explores the socio-economic relationships, in both cross-cultural and potentially inter-regional settings, present within the archaeological repertoire of the southern Italian Late Bronze Age (LBA 1600 -1050 BCE). The emergence of economic relations within the connectivity of the regional settlements is explored through ceramic contexts found in the case studies Punta di Zambrone, Broglio di Trebisacce, and Nuraghe Antigori. This paper discusses the findings of a statistical and theoretical approach from an ongoing study in relation to the Mediterranean’s characterisation as a period dominated by Mycenaean influence. This study engages with a theoretical bricolage of Social Networks Entanglement, and Assertive Objects Theory to address the selective and assertive dynamics evident in the cross-cultural trade exchanges as well as consider inter-regional dynamics. Through this intersection of theory and statistical analysis, the case studies establish a small percentage of pottery as imported, whilst assertive productions have a relatively higher quantity. Overall, the majority still adheres to regional Italian traditions. Therefore, we can dissect the rhizomatic relationships cultivated by the Italian coasts and Mycenaeans and their roles within their networks through the intersection of theoretical and statistical analysis. This research offers a new perspective on the complex nature of the Late Bronze Age relational structures.

Keywords: late bronze age, mediterranean archaeology, exchanges and trade, frequency distribution of ceramic assemblages, social network theory, rhizomatic exchanges

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Authors: Rabia Khaliala, Adi Vitman-Schorr

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Background: The increase in longevity of people on one hand, and on the other hand the fact that the social networks in later life become increasingly narrower, highlight the importance of Internet use to enhance quality of life (QoL). However, whether Internet use increases or decreases social networks, loneliness and quality of life is not clear-cut. Purposes: To explore the direct and/or indirect effects of Internet use on QoL, and to examine whether ethnicity and time the elderly spent with family moderate the mediation effect of Internet use on quality of life throughout loneliness. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was carried out in 2016 by structured interviews with a convenience sample of 502 respondents aged 50 and older, living in northern Israel. Bootstrapping with resampling strategies was used for testing mediation a model. Results: Use of the Internet was found to be positively associated with QoL. However, this relationship was mediated by loneliness, and moderated by the time the elderly spent with family members. In addition, respondents' ethnicity significantly moderated the mediation effect between Internet use and loneliness. Conclusions: Internet use can enhance QoL of older adults directly or indirectly by reducing loneliness. However, these effects are conditional on other variables. The indirect effect moderated by ethnicity, and the direct effect moderated by the time the elderly spend with their families. Researchers and practitioners should be aware of these interactions which can impact loneliness and quality of life of older persons differently.

Keywords: internet use, loneliness, quality of life, social contacts

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Authors: Yahaya Sulaiman, Ibrahim Muhammad Yakuba, Abubakar Usman

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In this paper, we discuss that Sustainable Development Goals are in consonance with Islamic ethos and philosophy. Islam made emphasize on human well-being from spiritual, physiological, intellectual and economic perspectives. Islamic worldview and values framework strengthens moral consciousness, urge pro-social behaviour and engender environmental ethics which can help in influencing our attitudes towards meeting sustainable development challenges. Islamic social finance institutions like Zakat and Waqf can contribute towards scaling up efforts in commercially non-viable, but socially vital projects and programs. There is much potential for Islamic finance to promote sustainable economic development through such approaches as widening access to finance, financing infrastructure projects, and expanding the reach of Takaful. Real sector based productive enterprise in Islamic finance has positive implications for the ecosystem. Risk-sharing shifts the emphasis from credit-worthiness of the borrower to be placed on the value creation and economic viability of investments that create new wealth. Islamic social finance package can cater to the financially excluded households.

Keywords: assessment, Islamic, economic, sustainable, development

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Authors: Mary-Magdalene N. Chumbow

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This study explores how a reality TV show which aired in Nigeria in 2019 (Big Brother Naija - BBN), played a role in enhancing gender-biased conversations among its viewers and social media followers. Thematic analysis is employed here to study Twitter conversations among BBN 2019 followers, which ensued after the show had stopped airing. The study reveals that the show influenced the way viewers and fans engaged with each other, as well as with the show’s participants, on Twitter, and argues that, despite having aired for a short period of time, BBN 2019 was able to draw people together and provide a community where viewers could engage with each other online. Though the show aired on TV, the viewers found a digital space where they could air their views, react to what was happening on the show, as well as simply catch up on action that they probably missed. Within these digital communities, viewers expressed their attractions, disgust and identities, most of these having a form of reference to sexuality and gender identities and roles, as were also portrayed by the show’s producers both on TV and on social media.

Keywords: commodification of bodies, gender stereotypes, Big Brother Naija, social media

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Authors: Adu-Ampomah Yaw Junior

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Local procurement has become one of the latest trends in the discourse of sustainable tourism due to the economic benefits it generates for tourist destinations in developing countries. Local procurement helps in creating jobs which consequently helps in alleviating poverty. However, there have been limited studies on local procurement patterns in developing countries. Research on hotel procurement practices has mainly emphasized the challenges that hoteliers face when procuring locally, leaving questions regarding their motivations to engage in local procurement unanswered. The institutional theory provides a suitable framework to better understand these motivations as it underlines the importance of individual cognitive perceptions on issues in shaping organizational response strategies. More specifically, the extent to which an issue is perceived to belong to the organization’s responsibility. Also the organizational actors’ belief of losses or gains resultant from acting or not acting on an issue (degree of importance). Furthermore the organizational actors’ belief of the probability of resolving an issue (degree of feasibility). These factors influence how an organization will act on this issue. Hence, this paper adopts an institutional perspective to examine local procurement patterns of food by hoteliers in Ghana. Qualitative interviews with 20 procurement managers about their procurement practices and motivations, as well as interviews with different stakeholders for data triangulation purposes, indicated that most hotels sourced their food from middlemen who imported most of their products. However, direct importation was more prevalent foreign owned hotels as opposed to locally owned ones. Notwithstanding, the importation and the usage of foreign foods as opposed to local ones can be explained by the lack of pressure from NGOs and trade associations on hotels to act responsibly. Though guests’ menu preferences were perceived as important to hoteliers business operations, western tourists demand foreign food primarily with the foreign owned hotels make it less important to procure local produce. Lastly hoteliers, particularly those in foreign owned ones, perceive local procurement to be less feasible, raising concerns about quality and variety of local produce. The paper outlines strategies to improve the perception and degree of local Firstly, there is the need for stakeholder engagement in order to make hoteliers feel responsible for acting on the issue.Again it is crucial for Ghana government to promote and encourage hotels to buy local produce. Also, the government has to also make funds and storage facilities available for farmers to impact on the quality and quantity of local produce. Moreover, Sites need to be secured for farmers to engage in sustained farming.Furthermore, there is the need for collaborations between various stakeholders to organize training programs for farmers. Notwithstanding hotels need to market local produce to their guests. Finally, the Ghana hotels association has to encourage hotels to indulge in local procurement.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, feasible, important, local procurement

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Authors: Kimton Opiyo, Elliot M. Berry, Patil Karamchand, Barnabas K. Natamba

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Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major psychiatric disorder that affects women soon after birth and in some cases, is a continuation of antenatal depression. Food insecurity (FI) and social support (SS) are known to be associated with major depressive disorder, and vice versa. This study was conducted to examine the interrelationships among FI, SS, and PPD among postpartum women in Gulu, a post-conflict region in Uganda. Methods: Cross-sectional data from postpartum women on depression symptoms, FI and SS were, respectively, obtained using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, Individually Focused FI Access scale (IFIAS) and Duke-UNC functional social support scale. Standard regression methods were used to assess associations among FI, SS, and PPD. Results: A total of 239 women were studied, and 40% were found to have any PPD, i.e., with depressive symptom scores of ≥ 17. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) for FI score and SS scores were 6.47 ± 5.02 and 19.11 ± 4.23 respectively. In adjusted analyses, PPD symptoms were found to be positively associated with FI (unstandardized beta and standardized beta of 0.703 and 0.432 respectively, standard errors =0.093 and p-value < 0.0001) and negatively associated with SS (unstandardized beta and standardized beta of -0.263 and -0.135 respectively, standard errors = 0.111 and p-value = 0.019). Conclusions: Many women in this post-conflict region reported experiencing PPD. In addition, this data suggest that food security and psychosocial support interventions may help mitigate women’s experience of PPD or its severity.

Keywords: postpartum depression, food insecurity, social support, post-conflict region

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Authors: C. van den Berg, C. Pokpas

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Popular discourse touts entrepreneurship as a universal solution for underdevelopment, unemployment, and poverty. Moreover, claims are made that women and other disadvantaged groups can achieve material and personal success through digital entrepreneurship. This paper examines the potential of digital technology in entrepreneurial ventures to stimulate economic growth for marginalized groups and communities. Although digital entrepreneurship is hailed as a means to empower under-resourced and socially marginalized people, these opportunities still exist within the confines of existing social and cultural practices. The perspectives of female digital entrepreneurs in developing countries are sorely understudied, particularly concerning an understanding of the complex underlying socio-cultural factors impeding women’s entrepreneurial behaviors. This qualitative study, guided by a feminist phenomenological perspective, focused on the experiences of digital female entrepreneurs in the Western Cape of South Africa. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed through the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to determine the relationships between digital entrepreneurship and structural and agential enabling conditions. Findings show that digital entrepreneurship is not a panacea for economic growth in marginalized groups and communities and highlight the importance of addressing socio-cultural gender inequality to enable successful entrepreneurial activity. The paper concludes with recommendations for specialized training initiatives aimed at female entrepreneurs that address internalized constraints and barriers that keep women subservient and measures to shift gender and power beliefs. The outcome will benefit the stimulation of gender-specific public policies to develop a successful digital start-up ecosystem further.

Keywords: digital innovation, female digital entrepreneurs, feminist phenomenology, gender, marginalised communities

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Authors: Majed Al Otaibi, Melissa Lessard-Beaudoin, Amel Loudghi, Raphael Chouinard-Watkins, Melanie Plourde, Frederic Calon, C. Alexandre Castellano, Stephen Cunnane, Helene Payette, Pierrette Gaudreau, Denis Gris, Rona K. Graham

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Introduction: Alzheimer disease (AD) is a chronic disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Symptoms include memory dysfunction, and also alterations in attention, planning, language and overall cognitive function. Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom of several neurological disorders including AD. Studying the mechanisms underlying the olfactory dysfunction may therefore lead to the discovery of potential biomarkers and/or treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Objectives: To determine if olfactory dysfunction predicts future cognitive impairment in the aging population and to characterize the olfactory system in a murine model expressing a genetic factor of AD. Method: For the human study, quantitative olfactory tests (UPSIT and OMT) have been done on 93 subjects (aged 80 to 94 years) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging (NuAge) cohort accepting to participate in the ORCA secondary study. The telephone Modified Mini Mental State examination (t-MMSE) was used to assess cognition levels, and an olfactory self-report was also collected. In a separate cohort, olfactory cortical volume was calculated using MRI results from healthy old adults (n=25) and patients with AD (n=18) using the AAL single-subject atlas and performed with the PNEURO tool (PMOD 3.7). For the murine study, we are using Western blotting, RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Result: Human Study: Based on the self-report, 81% of the participants claimed to not suffer from any problem with olfaction. However, based on the UPSIT, 94% of those subjects showed a poor olfactory performance and different forms of microsmia. Moreover, the results confirm that olfactory function declines with age. We also detected a significant decrease in olfactory cortical volume in AD individuals compared to controls. Murine study: Preliminary data demonstrate there is a significant decrease in expression levels of the proform of caspase-3 and the caspase substrate STK3, in the olfactory bulb of mice expressing human APOE4 compared with controls. In addition, there is a significant decrease in the expression level of the caspase-9 proform and caspase-8 active fragment. Analysis of the mature neuron marker, NeuN, shows decreased expression levels of both isoforms. The data also suggest that Iba-1 immunostaining is increased in the olfactory bulb of APOE4 mice compared to wild type mice. Conclusions: The activation of caspase-3 may be the cause of the decreased levels of STK3 through caspase cleavage and may play role in the inflammation observed. In the clinical study, our results suggest that seniors are unaware of their olfactory function status and therefore it is not sufficient to measure olfaction using the self-report in the elderly. Studying olfactory function and cognitive performance in the aging population will help to discover biomarkers in the early stage of the AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, APOE4, cognition, caspase, brain atrophy, neurodegenerative, olfactory dysfunction

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Authors: Alexey Abilov

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Sociological research in the form of a questionnaire survey of the population in the last decade has become an essential part of a comprehensive assessment of the territory in the practice of urban planning in Kazakhstan. This method was successfully used for developing master plans of settlements, urban agglomerations, and projects of detailed planning of individual sections of the urban environment. Also, it greatly contributes to the objectification of design solutions, since in addition to the traditional expert multifactorial assessment of urban development territories by professional designers, they provide an opportunity to consider existing urban development problems at the local level from the inside, through the eyes of the living population. A comparison of two areas of assessment of the territory -expert and social- allows us to give a more balanced final assessment, which can serve as a strong basis for making correct design decisions. The author of the article shows this by the example of the social assessment of the territory of the Almaty urban agglomeration in the form of a questionnaire survey of the population conducted in order to assess the quality of the living environment of the population, preferences in place and forms of recreation, as well as to delimitation the boundaries of the agglomeration. At the same time, the author's methodology of qualitative and quantitative assessment of the territory divided into polling stations is used, based on a comparison of the percentage of respondents' responses to various questionnaire questions with the total number of respondents.

Keywords: social assessment of territory, comprehensive assessment, urban agglomeration, correct design decisions

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Authors: Ting Lu, Ya-Ru Diao, Fei Fan, Ye Xue, Lei Shi, Xian-e Tang, Meng-jun Zhan, Zhen-hua Deng

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Accurate adult age estimation (AAE) is a significant and challenging task in forensic and archeology fields. Attempts have been made to explore optimal adult age metrics, and the rib is considered a potential age marker. The traditional way is to extract age-related features designed by experts from macroscopic or radiological images followed by classification or regression analysis. Those results still have not met the high-level requirements for practice, and the limitation of using feature design and manual extraction methods is loss of information since the features are likely not designed explicitly for extracting information relevant to age. Deep learning (DL) has recently garnered much interest in imaging learning and computer vision. It enables learning features that are important without a prior bias or hypothesis and could be supportive of AAE. This study aimed to develop DL models for AAE based on CT images and compare their performance to the manual visual scoring method. Chest CT data were reconstructed using volume rendering (VR). Retrospective data of 2500 patients aged 20.00-69.99 years were obtained between December 2019 and September 2021. Five-fold cross-validation was performed, and datasets were randomly split into training and validation sets in a 4:1 ratio for each fold. Before feeding the inputs into networks, all images were augmented with random rotation and vertical flip, normalized, and resized to 224×224 pixels. ResNeXt was chosen as the DL baseline due to its advantages of higher efficiency and accuracy in image classification. Mean absolute error (MAE) was the primary parameter. Independent data from 100 patients acquired between March and April 2022 were used as a test set. The manual method completely followed the prior study, which reported the lowest MAEs (5.31 in males and 6.72 in females) among similar studies. CT data and VR images were used. The radiation density of the first costal cartilage was recorded using CT data on the workstation. The osseous and calcified projections of the 1 to 7 costal cartilages were scored based on VR images using an eight-stage staging technique. According to the results of the prior study, the optimal models were the decision tree regression model in males and the stepwise multiple linear regression equation in females. Predicted ages of the test set were calculated separately using different models by sex. A total of 2600 patients (training and validation sets, mean age=45.19 years±14.20 [SD]; test set, mean age=46.57±9.66) were evaluated in this study. Of ResNeXt model training, MAEs were obtained with 3.95 in males and 3.65 in females. Based on the test set, DL achieved MAEs of 4.05 in males and 4.54 in females, which were far better than the MAEs of 8.90 and 6.42 respectively, for the manual method. Those results showed that the DL of the ResNeXt model outperformed the manual method in AAE based on CT reconstruction of the costal cartilage and the developed system may be a supportive tool for AAE.

Keywords: forensic anthropology, age determination by the skeleton, costal cartilage, CT, deep learning

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Authors: David Hough

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Indigenous peoples can generally be described as the original or first peoples of a land prior to colonization. While there is no single definition of indigenous peoples, the United Nations has developed a general understanding based on self-identification and historical continuity with pre-colonial societies. Indigenous peoples are often traditional holders of unique languages, knowledge systems and beliefs who possess valuable knowledge and practices which support sustainable management of natural resources. They often have social, economic, political systems, languages and cultures, which are distinct from dominant groups in the society or state where they live. They generally resist attempts by the dominant culture at assimilation and endeavour to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly passed a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, known as UNDRIP. It (in addition to other international instruments such as ILO 169), sets out far-reaching guidelines, which – among other things – attempt to protect and promote indigenous languages and cultures. Paragraphs 13 and 14 of the declaration state the following regarding language, culture and education: Article 13, Paragraph 1: Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit for future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems, and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons. Article 14, Paragraph I: Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning. These two paragraphs call for the right of self-determination in education. Paragraph 13 gives indigenous peoples the right to control the content of their teaching, while Paragraph 14 states that the teaching of this content should be based on methods of teaching and learning which are appropriate to indigenous peoples. This paper reviews an approach to furthering linguistic and cultural human rights for indigenous peoples in education, which supports UNDRIP. It has been employed in countries in Asia and the Pacific, including the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Far East Russia and Nepal. It is based on bottom-up community-based initiatives where students, teachers and local knowledge holders come together to produce classroom materials in their own languages that reflect their traditional beliefs and value systems. They may include such things as knowledge about herbal medicines and traditional healing practices, local history, numerical systems, weights and measures, astronomy and navigation, canoe building, weaving and mat making, life rituals, feasts, festivals, songs, poems, etc. Many of these materials can then be mainstreamed into math, science language arts and social studies classes.

Keywords: Indigenous peoples, linguistic and cultural human rights, materials development, teacher training, traditional knowledge

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Authors: Rania Albsoul, Muhammad Ahmed Alshyyab, Baraa Ayed Al Odat, Nermeen Borhan Al Dwekat, Batool Emad Al-masri, Fatima Abdulsattar Alkubaisi, Salsabil Awni Flefil, Majd Hussein Al-Khawaldeh, Ragad Ayman Sa’ed, Maha Waleed Abu Ajamieh, Gerard Fitzgerald

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of operating room staff towards the use of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist in a tertiary hospital in Jordan. Design/methodology/approach: This was a qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 21 healthcare staff employed in the operating room (nurses, residents, surgeons, and anaesthesiologists). The interviews were conducted in the period from October to December 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: Three main themes emerged from data analysis, namely compliance with the surgical safety checklist, the impact of the surgical safety checklist, and barriers and facilitators to the use of the surgical safety checklist. The use of the checklist was seen as enabling staff to communicate effectively and thus accomplish patient safety and positive outcomes. The perceived barriers to compliance included excessive workload, congestion, and lack of training and awareness. Enhanced training and education were thought to improve the utilization of the surgical safety checklist and help enhance awareness about its importance. Originality/value: While steps to utilize the surgical safety checklist by the operation room personnel may seem simple, the quality of its administration is not necessarily robust. There are several challenges to consistent, complete, and effective administration of the surgical safety checklist by the surgical team members. Healthcare managers must employ interventions to eliminate barriers to and offer facilitators of adherence to the application of the surgical safety checklist, therefore promoting quality healthcare and patient safety.

Keywords: patient safety, surgical safety checklist, compliance, utility, operating room, quality healthcare, communication, teamwork

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Authors: Gabriela R. Silveira, Claudia S. Rocha, Lais S. Vitti, Jeane L. Borges, Helen B. Durgante

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Emerging adulthood occurs after adolescence in a period that maybe be marked by experimentation, identity reconfigurations, labor life demands, and insertion in the work environment, which tends to generate stress and emotional instability. Health promotion programs for the development of strengths and virtues, based on Positive Psychology, for emerging adults are sparse in Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preliminary effects of an online multi-component Positive Psychology program for the health promotion of emerging adults based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Positive Psychology. The program included six online (synchronous) weekly group sessions of approximately two hours each and homework (asynchronous) activities. The themes worked were Values and self-care/Prudence, Optimism, Empathy, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Meaning of life and work. This study presents data from a longitudinal, pre-experimental design with pre (T1) and post-test (T2) evaluation in the intervention group. 47 individuals aged between 19-30 years old participated, mean age of 24.53 years (SD=3.13), 37 females (78.7%). 42 (89.4%) self-defined as heterosexual, four (8.5%) as homosexual, and one (2.5%) as bisexual. 33 (70.2%) had incomplete higher education, four (8.5%) completed higher education, and seven (14.9%) had a graduate level of education. 27 participants worked (57.4%), out of which 25 were health workers (53.2%). 14 (29.8%) were caregivers, 27 (57.4%) had a spiritual belief, 36 (76.6%) had access to leisure, and 38 (80.9%) had perceived social support. The instruments used were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The program was advertised on social networks and interested participants filled out the Consent Form and the evaluation protocol at T1 and T2 via Google Docs form. The main research was approved (CEP n.1,899,368; 4,143,219; CAAE: 61997516.5.0000.5334) and complied with sanitary and Ethics criteria in research with human beings. Wilcoxon statistics revealed significant improvements in indicators of perceived stress between T1 (X=22.21, SD=6.79) and T2 (X=15.10, SD=5.82); (Z=-4.353; p=0.001) as well as depression and anxiety symptoms (T1:X=26.72, SD=8.84; T2: X=19.23, SD=4.68); (Z=-3.945, p=0.001) of the emerging adults after their participation in the programme. The programme has an innovative character not only for presenting an online Positive Psychology approach but also for being based on an intervention developed, evaluated, and manualized in Brazil. By focusing on emerging adults, this study contributes to advancing research on a relatively new field in developmental studies. As a limitation, this is a pre-experimental and pilot study, requiring an increase in sample size for greater statistical robustness, also qualitative data analysis is crucial for methodological complementarity. The importance of investing efforts to accompany this age group and provide advances in longitudinal research in the area of health promotion and disease prevention is highlighted.

Keywords: emerging adults, disease prevention, health promotion, online program

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Authors: K. C. Tanuja, Mamatha P. Raj

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Urbanisation is happening rapidly all over the world. As population increasing in the urban settlements, its required to provide quality of life to all the inhabitants who live in. Urban design is a place making strategic planning. Urban design principles promote visualising any place environmentally, socially and economically viable. Urban design strategies include building mass, transit development, economic viability and sustenance and social aspects.

Keywords: livable streets, social interaction, pedestrian use, urban design

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Authors: Chaiyaset Promsri

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Based on the synthesis of related literatures, this research found thirteen related dimensions that involved the development of natural disaster preparedness awareness including hazard knowledge, hazard attitude, training for disaster preparedness, rehearsal and practice for disaster preparedness, cultural development for preparedness, public relations and communication, storytelling, disaster awareness game, simulation, past experience to natural disaster, information sharing with family members, and commitment to the community (time of living).  The 40-item of natural disaster preparedness awareness questionnaire was developed based on these thirteen dimensions. Data were collected from 595 participants in Bangkok metropolitan and vicinity. Cronbach's alpha was used to examine the internal consistency for this instrument. Reliability coefficient was 97, which was highly acceptable.  Exploratory Factor Analysis where principal axis factor analysis was employed. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index of sampling adequacy was .973, indicating that the data represented a homogeneous collection of variables suitable for factor analysis. Bartlett's test of Sphericity was significant for the sample as Chi-Square = 23168.657, df = 780, and p-value < .0001, which indicated that the set of correlations in the correlation matrix was significantly different and acceptable for utilizing EFA. Factor extraction was done to determine the number of factors by using principal component analysis and varimax.  The result revealed that four factors had Eigen value greater than 1 with more than 60% cumulative of variance. Factor #1 had Eigen value of 22.270, and factor loadings ranged from 0.626-0.760. This factor was named as "Knowledge and Attitude of Natural Disaster Preparedness".  Factor #2 had Eigen value of 2.491, and factor loadings ranged from 0.596-0.696. This factor was named as "Training and Development". Factor #3 had Eigen value of 1.821, and factor loadings ranged from 0.643-0.777. This factor was named as "Building Experiences about Disaster Preparedness".  Factor #4 had Eigen value of 1.365, and factor loadings ranged from 0.657-0.760. This was named as "Family and Community". The results of this study provided support for the reliability and construct validity of natural disaster preparedness awareness for utilizing with populations similar to sample employed.

Keywords: natural disaster, disaster preparedness, disaster awareness, Thai citizens

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Authors: Christiane H. Kellner, Sarah Reker

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The UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Germany also ratified, postulates the necessity of user-centred design, especially when it comes to evaluating the individual needs and wishes of all citizens. Therefore, a multidimensional approach is required. Based on this insight, the structure of the town-like centre in Schönbrunn - a large residential complex and service provider for persons with disabilities in the outskirts of Munich - will be remodelled to open up the community to all people as well as transform social space. This strategy should lead to more equal opportunities and open the way for a much more diverse community. The research project “Index for participation development and quality of life for persons with disabilities” (TeLe-Index, 2014-2016), which is anchored at the Technische Universität München in Munich and at the Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn supports this transformation process called “Vision 2030”. In this context, we have provided academic supervision and support for three projects (the construction of a new school, inclusive housing for children and teenagers with disabilities and the professionalization of employees using person-centred planning). Since we cannot present all the issues of the umbrella-project within the conference framework, we will be focusing on one sub-project more in-depth, namely “The Person-Centred Think Tank” [Arbeitskreis Personenzentriertes Denken; PZD]. In the context of person-centred thinking (PCT), persons with disabilities are encouraged to (re)gain or retain control of their lives through the development of new choice options and the validation of individual lifestyles. PCT should thus foster and support both participation and quality of life. The project aims to establish PCT as a fundamental approach for both employees and persons with disabilities in the institution through in-house training for the staff and, subsequently, training for users. Hence, for the academic support and supervision team, the questions arising from this venture can be summed up as follows: (1) has PCT already gained a foothold at the Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn? And (2) how does it affect the interaction with persons with disabilities and how does it influence the latter’s everyday life? According to the holistic approach described above, the target groups for this study are both the staff and the users of the institution. Initially, we planned to implement the group discussion method for both target-groups. However, in the course of a pretest with persons with intellectual disabilities, it became clear that this type of interview, with hardly any external structuring, provided only limited feedback. In contrast, when the discussions were moderated, there was more interaction and dialogue between the interlocutors. Therefore, for this target-group, we introduced structured group interviews. The insights we have obtained until now will enable us to present the intermediary results of our evaluation. We analysed and evaluated the group interviews and discussions with the help of qualitative content analysis according to Mayring in order to obtain information about users’ quality of life. We sorted out the statements relating to quality of life obtained during the group interviews into three dimensions: subjective wellbeing, self-determination and participation. Nevertheless, the majority of statements were related to subjective wellbeing and self-determination. Thus, especially the limited feedback on participation clearly demonstrates that the lives of most users do not take place beyond the confines of the institution. A number of statements highlighted the fact that PCT is anchored in the everyday interactions within the groups. However, the implementation and fostering of PCT on a broader level could not be detected and thus remain further aims of the project. The additional interviews we have planned should validate the results obtained until now and open up new perspectives.

Keywords: person-centered thinking, research with persons with disabilities, residential complex and service provider, participation, self-determination.

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Authors: Diana Vieira Figueiredo, Rita Ramos Miguel, Maria do Céu Salvador, Luiza Nobre-Lima, Daniel RIjo, Paula Vagos

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Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is characterized by a marked and persistent fear of social and/or performance situations in which one may be exposed to the scrutiny of others.  SAD has its usual onset and is highly prevalent during adolescence; if left untreated, it often has a chronic and unremitting course. So, it seems important to understand the psychological processes that might predict the development of SAD. One of these processes may be self-compassion, which has been found to be associated with social anxiety in both adults and adolescents. Self-compassion involves three main components, each with a positive (compassionate behavior) and negative (uncompassionate behavior) pole – self-kindness versus self-judgment, common humanity versus isolation, and mindfulness versus over-identification. The negative indicators of self-compassion (self-judgement, isolation, and over-identification) were found to be more strongly linked to mental health problems than the positive indicators (self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness). Additionally, negative associations were found between the positive indicators of self-compassion (self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness) and psychopathology. The current study aimed to investigate the role of self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identification in the likelihood of an adolescent presenting SAD by comparing groups of normative and socially anxious adolescents. The sample consisted of 32 adolescents (Mage = 15.88, SD = .833) of which 23 were girls. Adolescents were assessed through a clinical structured interview that led 17 to be assigned to the clinical group (presenting a primary diagnosis of SAD) and 15 to be assigned to the non-clinical group (presenting no clinical diagnosis). Variables under study were measured through the Self-Compassion Scale for adolescents (SCS-A), which assesses the six indicators of self-compassion presented above. Six separate models were tested, each with one of the subscales of the SCS-A as the independent variable and with the group (clinical versus non-clinical) as the dependent variable. The models considering isolation, over-identification, self-judgement, and self-kindness fitted the data and accurately predicted group belonging for between 75% to 84.4% of cases. Results indicated that the log of the odds of an adolescent presenting SAD was positively related to isolation, over-identification, and self-judgement and negatively associated with self-kindness. Findings provide support for the idea that decreased self-compassion may place adolescents at increased risk for experiencing clinical levels of social anxiety: on the one hand, adolescents with higher levels of isolation, over-identification, and self-judgement seem to be more prone to the development of psychopathological levels of social anxiety; on the other hand, self-kindness may play a protective role in the development of SAD in this developmental phase. So, if focusing on social feared consequences and perceiving to be different from others may be distinctive features of SAD, developing self-kindness may be the antidote to promote diminished levels of social anxiety and more.

Keywords: adolescents, social anxiety disorder, self-compassion, diagnosis odds-ration

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Authors: Kemal Efe Eseller, Göktuğ Yazici

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Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a rapid optical atomic emission spectroscopy which is used for material identification and analysis with the advantages of in-situ analysis, elimination of intensive sample preparation, and micro-destructive properties for the material to be tested. LIBS delivers short pulses of laser beams onto the material in order to create plasma by excitation of the material to a certain threshold. The plasma characteristics, which consist of wavelength value and intensity amplitude, depends on the material and the experiment’s environment. In the present work, medicine samples’ spectrum profiles were obtained via LIBS. Medicine samples’ datasets include two different concentrations for both paracetamol based medicines, namely Aferin and Parafon. The spectrum data of the samples were preprocessed via filling outliers based on quartiles, smoothing spectra to eliminate noise and normalizing both wavelength and intensity axis. Statistical information was obtained and principal component analysis (PCA) was incorporated to both the preprocessed and raw datasets. The machine learning models were set based on two different train-test splits, which were 70% training – 30% test and 80% training – 20% test. Cross-validation was preferred to protect the models against overfitting; thus the sample amount is small. The machine learning results of preprocessed and raw datasets were subjected to comparison for both splits. This is the first time that all supervised machine learning classification algorithms; consisting of Decision Trees, Discriminant, naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machines (SVM), k-NN(k-Nearest Neighbor) Ensemble Learning and Neural Network algorithms; were incorporated to LIBS data of paracetamol based pharmaceutical samples, and their different concentrations on preprocessed and raw dataset in order to observe the effect of preprocessing.

Keywords: machine learning, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, medicines, principal component analysis, preprocessing

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Authors: Hannah Jennica P. Ello, Regina Via G. Garcia

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Films are famous expressions of art in the country. As an expression of art, it serves as a medium in which a culture is reflected. This paper studied how films reflected the Filipino culture. In this study, social semiotics was used to analyze the semiotic resources identified in the film. The films studied were 'Feng Shui', 'Sukob', and 'The Healing', which were three of the highest grossing horror films of Chito S. Roño. The objectives of the paper were (1) to identify the semiotic resources in the film, (2) to extract their meanings, and (3) to determine how these resources were perceived in the Filipino culture. The semiotic resources identified in each film are organized into three categories: color, practices and supernatural occurrences. Each semiotic resource is analyzed through the four dimensions of social semiotics, genre, style, modality, and discourse. For color, some of the semiotic resources identified are red, white and blue; for practices, Hagiolatry, and Mariolatry, faith healing and the belief in superstitions; and for supernatural occurrences, haunting ghosts, doppelganger attacks and returning from the dead were identified. The practices that are prominent in the films are Hagiolatry and Mariolatry, belief in feng shui and belief in faith healers and albularyos. The belief of these practices shows that Filipinos have a dual faith; belief in religion and a belief in superstitions. In short, Filipinos highly practice folk Catholicism and because of this, a mixture of different cultures can be seen, as having molded the Filipino culture to what it is today.

Keywords: culture, film, semiotics, social semiotics

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Authors: Angelis P. Barlampas

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The purpose of this study is to inform the reader, about the various applications of artificial intelligence (AI), in cardiac imaging. AI grows fast and its role is crucial in medical specialties, which use large amounts of digital data, that are very difficult or even impossible to be managed by human beings and especially doctors.Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of computers to mimic human cognitive function, performing tasks such as learning, problem-solving, and autonomous decision making based on digital data. Whereas AI describes the concept of using computers to mimic human cognitive tasks, machine learning (ML) describes the category of algorithms that enable most current applications described as AI. Some of the current applications of AI in cardiac imaging are the follows: Ultrasound: Automated segmentation of cardiac chambers across five common views and consequently quantify chamber volumes/mass, ascertain ejection fraction and determine longitudinal strain through speckle tracking. Determine the severity of mitral regurgitation (accuracy > 99% for every degree of severity). Identify myocardial infarction. Distinguish between Athlete’s heart and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as well as restrictive cardiomyopathy and constrictive pericarditis. Predict all-cause mortality. CT Reduce radiation doses. Calculate the calcium score. Diagnose coronary artery disease (CAD). Predict all-cause 5-year mortality. Predict major cardiovascular events in patients with suspected CAD. MRI Segment of cardiac structures and infarct tissue. Calculate cardiac mass and function parameters. Distinguish between patients with myocardial infarction and control subjects. It could potentially reduce costs since it would preclude the need for gadolinium-enhanced CMR. Predict 4-year survival in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Nuclear Imaging Classify normal and abnormal myocardium in CAD. Detect locations with abnormal myocardium. Predict cardiac death. ML was comparable to or better than two experienced readers in predicting the need for revascularization. AI emerge as a helpful tool in cardiac imaging and for the doctors who can not manage the overall increasing demand, in examinations such as ultrasound, computed tomography, MRI, or nuclear imaging studies.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, cardiac imaging, ultrasound, MRI, CT, nuclear medicine

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Authors: Gulhan Sen

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Disasters could result in many deaths and injuries. In these difficult times, accessible resources are limited, demand and supply balance is distorted, and there is a need to make urgent interventions. Disproportionateness between accessible resources and intervention capacity makes triage a necessity in every stage of disaster response. Healthcare professionals, who are in charge of triage, have to evaluate swiftly and make ethical decisions about which patients need priority and urgent intervention given the limited available resources. For such critical times in disaster triage, 'doing the greatest good for the greatest number of casualties' is adopted as a code of practice. But there is no guide for healthcare professionals about ethical decision-making during disasters, and this study is expected to use as a source in the preparation of the guide. This study aimed to examine whether the qualities healthcare professionals in Izmir related to disaster triage were adequate and whether these qualities influence their capacity to make ethical decisions. The researcher used a survey developed for data collection. The survey included two parts. In part one, 14 questions solicited information about socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge levels of the respondents on ethical principles of disaster triage and allocation of scarce resources. Part two included four disaster scenarios adopted from existing literature and respondents were asked to make ethical decisions in triage based on the provided scenarios. The survey was completed by 215 healthcare professional working in Emergency-Medical Stations, National Medical Rescue Teams and Search-Rescue-Health Teams in Izmir. The data was analyzed with SPSS software. Chi-Square Test, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Linear Regression Analysis were utilized. According to results, it was determined that 51.2% of the participants had inadequate knowledge level of ethical principles of disaster triage and allocation of scarce resources. It was also found that participants did not tend to make ethical decisions on four disaster scenarios which included ethical dilemmas. They stayed in ethical dilemmas that perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, manage limited resources and make decisions to die. Results also showed that participants who had more experience in disaster triage teams, were more likely to make ethical decisions on disaster triage than those with little or no experience in disaster triage teams(p < 0.01). Moreover, as their knowledge level of ethical principles of disaster triage and allocation of scarce resources increased, their tendency to make ethical decisions also increased(p < 0.001). In conclusion, having inadequate knowledge level of ethical principles and being inexperienced affect their ethical decision-making during disasters. So results of this study suggest that more training on disaster triage should be provided on the areas of the pre-impact phase of disaster. In addition, ethical dimension of disaster triage should be included in the syllabi of the ethics classes in the vocational training for healthcare professionals. Drill, simulations, and board exercises can be used to improve ethical decision making abilities of healthcare professionals. Disaster scenarios where ethical dilemmas are faced should be prepared for such applied training programs.

Keywords: disaster triage, medical ethics, ethical principles of disaster triage, ethical decision-making

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Authors: Sinem Bagce, Ensar Yilmaz

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As a well-known fact, neoclassical economics excludes 'what is humanized' out of the literature for a long time. Rationality is defined in a very narrow context in the mainstream economics. Identity economics is one of the challenges raised against this tradition. The concept of 'identity' has been introduced to economics by Akerlof and Kranton (2000). The identity-based analysis mainly searches the links between economic welfare and decision of the actors in question related to ethnic, racial, gender and immigrant issues. This is more about discrimination and its repercussions on economic decisions of the relevant actors in a social sphere. In this article, we, in the context of identity economics, search the economic welfare and decisions of Romani people in Turkey. It is plainly observed that identity is clearly the major determinant for Romani people in economic and social life. They have their own distinctive rationality in making economic decisions. For a more scrutinized and academic analysis, we aim to trace their economic identity in their real social environment. This study is an extension of surveys conducted on Romani people in Turkey. Using data similar to SILC (Statistics for Income and Living Conditions) conducted on Romani people across the whole Turkey, we look for some questions about the income/welfare distribution among them, consumer preferences/habits, living conditions, occupations, education and as such. For this, by employing econometric and statistical analytical tools, we aim to obtain the answers for these questions. We think these analytic results will provide us to evaluate the links between their economic state and their identity more thoroughly. JEL Codes: D1, J 15, R23.

Keywords: identity economics, Romani people, discrimination, social identity and preferences

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