Search results for: personal moral beliefs

Authors: Z. Sun

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Health communication is essential in promoting healthy lifestyles, managing disease conditions, and eventually reducing health disparities. The key elements of successful health communication always include the development of communication strategies to engage people in thinking about their health, inform them about healthy choices, persuade them to adopt safe and healthy behaviours, and eventually achieve public health objectives. The use of 'Narrative' is recognised as a kind of health communication strategy to enhance personal and public health due to its potential persuasive effect in motivating and supporting individuals change their beliefs and behaviours by inviting them into a narrative world, breaking down their cognitive and emotional resistance and enhance their acceptance of the ideas portrayed in narratives. Meanwhile, the popularity of social media has provided a novel means of communication for both healthcare stakeholders, and a special group of active social media users (influencers) have started playing a pivotal role in providing health ‘solutions’. Such individuals are often referred to as ‘influencers’ because of their central position in the online communication system and the persuasive effect their actions may have on audiences. They may have established a positive rapport with their audience, earned trust and credibility in a specific area, and thus, their audience considers the information they delivered to be authentic and influential. To our best knowledge, to date, there is no published research that examines the effect of diabetes narratives presented by social media influencers and their impacts on health-related outcomes. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the diabetes narratives presented by social media influencers in the UK because of the new dimension they bring to health communication and the potential impact they may have on audiences' health outcomes. This study is situated within the interpretivist and narrative paradigms. A mixed methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches has been adopted. Qualitative data has been derived to provide a better understanding of influencers’ personal experiences and how they construct meanings and make sense of their world, while quantitative data has been accumulated to identify key social media influencers in the UK and measure the impact of diabetes narratives on audiences. Twitter has been chosen as the social media platform to initially identify key influencers. Two groups of participants are the top 10 key social media influencers in the UK and 100 audiences of each influencer, which means a total of 1000 audiences have been invited. This paper is going to discuss, first of all, the background of the research under the context of health communication; Secondly, the necessity and contribution of this research; then, the major research questions being explored; and finally, the methods to be used.

Keywords: diabetes, health communication, narratives, social media influencers

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Authors: Chairun Wiedyaningsih, Sri Suryawati, Yati Soenarto, Muhammad Hakimi

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Background: Many drugs used in paediatrics are not commercially available in suitable dosage forms. Therefore, the drugs often prescribed in extemporaneous compounding dosage form. Compounding can pose health risks include poor quality and unsafe products. Studies of compounding dosage form have primarily focused on prescription profiles, reasons of prescribing never be explored. Objectives: The study was conducted to identify factors influencing physicians’ decision to prescribe extemporaneous compounding dosage form for paediatric outpatients. Setting: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY) province, Indonesia. Method: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 general physicians and 7 paediatricians to identify the reason of prescribing extemporaneous compounding dosage form. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Factors underlying prescribing of compounding could be categorized to therapy, healthcare system, patient and past experience. The primary reasons of therapy factors were limited availability of drug compositions, dosages or formulas specific for children. Beliefs in efficacy of the compounding forms were higher when the drugs used primarily to overcome complex cases. Physicians did not concern about compounding form containing several active substances because manufactured syrups may also contain several active substances. Although medicines were available in manufactured syrups, limited institutional budget was healthcare system factor of compounding prescribing. The prescribing factors related to patients include easy to use, efficient and lower price. The prescribing factors related to past experience were physicians’ beliefs to the progress of patient's health status. Conclusions: Compounding was prescribed based on therapy-related factors, healthcare system factors, patient factors and past experience.

Keywords: compounding dosage form, interview, physician, prescription

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Authors: Sinead Creedon, Anna Trace

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Nurses were the most exposed of all frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mainly female nurses working in the acute hospital sector formed the frontline defence in the Irish health service. They faced it with resilience and courage despite exposure to risk of burnout and threats to their mental health and wellbeing. Gaining an understanding of the nurses’ journey in adapting to this harsh climate could inform positive psychology interventions and / or support staff such as senior hospital managers in an adverse work situation. Furthermore, it would strengthen our insight and theoretical understanding on the use of positive psychology interventions in adverse work conditions. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was carried out to gain insight into how nurses adapted to the changing work environment during the pandemic. Online semi-structured interviews were done with six experienced female nurses who were all redeployed to the frontline from their own roles. The three themes representing the nurses’ journey were the Protection of Sacrificial Self, The Fortifying Effect of Us, and Critical Turning Points & Growth. Nurses revitalised themselves by creating a sense of ‘us’ to help them face a harsh climate against others, which enabled additional critical turning points. This study further enriches our understanding of personal growth and trauma in adverse work conditions by including an exploration of what sacrificial commitment adds to our understanding of physical and moral courage.

Keywords: COVID-19, nurses, positive psychology, resilience, sacrificial commitment, supports

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Authors: Mehravar Javid, Katherine Marshall Woods, Joseph Kosowsky, Anna Missner

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In this paper, "Life and a Day" is analyzed psychoanalytically with an emphasis on the ways by which addiction is influenced by personal psychology and familial ties. It explores the influence of parenting on one's sense of self and the function of therapeutic alliances in the treatment of addiction. The analysis also observes the main characters, with a special emphasis on Somayeh, who represents the continuation of her father's role in the family and faces identity and autonomy issues in the face of familial responsibilities. In addressing addiction, the document emphasizes the significance of comprehending family dynamics and individual psychological factors, emphasizing the interaction between personal trauma, family roles, and recovery.

Keywords: addiction, autonomy, family dynamics, identity, life and a day, psychoanalytic

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Authors: Ayoub Kafyulilo, Petra Fisser, Joke Voogt

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This study was conducted to assess the continuation of the use of technology in science and mathematics teaching of the pre-service and in-service teachers who attended the professional development programme. It also assessed professional development, personal, institutional, and technological factors contributing to the continuous use of technology in teaching. The study involved 42 teachers, thirteen pre-service teachers, and twenty-nine in-service teachers. A mixed-method research approach was used to collect data for this study. Findings showed that the continuous use of technology in teaching after the termination of the professional development arrangement was high among the pre-service teachers, and differed for the in-service teachers. The regression model showed that knowledge and skills, access to technology and ease of use were strong predictors (R2 = 55.3%) of the teachers’ continuous use of technology after the professional development arrangement. The professional development factor did not have a direct effect on the continuous use of technology, rather had an influence on personal factors (knowledge and skills). In turn, the personal factors had influence on the institutional factors (access to technology) and technological factors (ease of use), which together had an effect on the teachers’ continuous use of technology in teaching.

Keywords: technology, professional development, teachers, science and mathematics

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Authors: Eltayeb Hamad Elneel Yousif

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This paper describes occupational radiation doses of workers in non-destructive testing (NDT) and some medical practices during the year 2007. The annual doses received by the workers of a public hospital are presented in this report. The Department is facilitated with HARSHAW Reader model 6600 and assigned the rule of personal monitoring to contribute in controlling and reducing the doses received by radiation workers. TLD cards with two TLD chips type LiF: Mg, Ti (TLD-100) were calibrated to measure the personal dose equivalent Hp(10). Around 150 medical radiation workers were monitored throughout the year. Each worker received a single TLD card worn on the chest above lead apron and returned for laboratory reading every two months. The average annual doses received by the workers of radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and diagnostic radiology were evaluated. The annual doses for individual radiation workers ranged between 0.55-4.42 mSv, 0.48-1.86 mSv, and 0.48-0.91 mSv for the workers of radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and diagnostic radiology, respectively. The mean dose per worker was 1.29±1, 1.03±0.4, and 0.69±0.2 mSv, respectively. The results showed compliance with international dose limits. Our results reconfirm the importance of personal dosimetry service in assuring the radiation protection of medical staff in developing countries.

Keywords: radiation medicine, non-destructive testing, TLD, public hospital

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Authors: Rebecca Keyte, Helen Egan, Michail Mantzios

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It is well acknowledged that ongoing adherence is a major concern within CF. However recently literature has indicated that non-adherence should not be viewed just in terms of medical regimens. There are other damaging behaviours that some chronically ill patients engage in which can be viewed as a form of non-adherence, such as risky behaviours. Risky behaviours are a major concern within CF, as they can have adverse health effects on patients regardless of patients adherence to medical regimens. The risky behaviours this research is predominantly focusing on are smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, illicit drug use and risky sexual behaviour. This research investigates patient’s beliefs about their CF and the impact their CF has upon their life, exploring rationales for why some patients engage in risky behaviours. This research utilises qualitative semi-structured interviews taking an interpretive perspective. Twenty-four adult participants have been recruited (16 male, age range 19–66 yrs) from two UK regional CF centres, with a median FEV1 61.77% predicted. Participants were recruited via clinician guidance, with 13 participants identified by clinicians as partaking in risky behaviours. However, during the interviews 17 participants were identified as partaking in risky behaviours, illustrating that not all patients offer full disclosure of engagement in such behaviours to their clinicians. Preliminary findings illustrate a variety of reasons as to why some CF patients engage in risky behaviours, with many participants stating that one challenge in terms of living with CF is accepting their illness. Disclosure of illness was also an issue, the desire to be seen as ‘normal’ was important to many. It is often possible for CF patients to hide their illness as they do not always appear to be unwell. However, literature indicates a desire for normalcy can be accompanied with the engagement of normalised risky behaviours, enabling patients to retaliate against their illness identity. There was also evidence of a life-orientated perspective amongst participants, with some reporting that their desire for fun and enjoyment was the reason for why they were engaging in risky behaviours. Some participants did not acknowledge the impact their risky behaviours could have upon their CF, and others rationalised their continuation with the behaviours by suggesting that they were in fact beneficial to their health. There was an apparent lack of knowledge around the implications of risky behaviours, with participants indicating that they had not been informed of such potential consequences by their clinicians. Given the adverse health effects of risky behaviours within CF, more effective health promotion measures are needed to both reduce and more importantly prevent these behaviours. Due to the initiation of risky behaviours within the CF population commonly occurring during adolescence, the researcher now proposes to conduct semi-structured interviews with paediatric patients to investigate their awareness and beliefs towards risky behaviours. Overall, this research will highlight reasons why some CF patients engage in risky behaviours, in order to inform interventions aimed to prevent the initiation in risky behaviours by increasing patient awareness.

Keywords: cystic fibrosis, health beliefs, preliminary findings, risky health behaviours

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Authors: Mireya Mateo Gomez

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The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions first-generation Mexican origin mothers living in San Diego have on postpartum depression (PPD), with a special focus on social influences and cultural beliefs towards those meanings. This study also aimed to examine possible PPD help-seeking behaviors that first-generation Mexican origin mothers can perform. The Health Belief Model (HBM) and Social Ecological Model (SEM) were the guiding theoretical frameworks for this study. Data for this study were collected from three focus groups, four in-depth interviews, and the distribution of an acculturation survey (ARSMA II). There were a total of 15 participants, in which participant’s mean age was 45, and the mean age migrated to the United States being 22. Most participants identified as being married, born in Southern or Western Mexico, and with a strong Mexican identity in relation to the ARSMA survey. Participants identified four salient PPD perceptions corresponding to the interpersonal level of SEM. These four main perceptions were: 1) PPD affecting the identity of motherhood; 2) PPD being a natural part of a mother’s experience but mitigated by networks; 3) PPD being a U.S. phenomenon due to family and community breakdown; and 4) natural remedies as a preferred PPD treatment. In regard to themes relating to help seeking behaviors, participants identified seven being: 1) seeking help from immediate family members; 2) practicing home remedies; 3) seeking help from a medical professional; 4) obtaining help from a clinic or organization; 5) seeking help from God; 6) participating in PPD support groups; and 7) talking to a friend. It was evident in this study that postpartum depression is not a well discussed topic within the Mexican immigrant population. In relation to the role culture and social influences have on PPD perceptions, most participants shared hearing or learning about PPD from their family members or friends. Participants also stated seeking help from family members if diagnosed with PPD and seeking out home remedies. This study as well provides suggestions to increase the awareness of PPD among the Mexican immigrant community.

Keywords: cultural beliefs, health belief model, Mexican origin mothers, perceptions, postpartum depression social ecological model

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Authors: Rose Mini Agoes Salim, Shahnaz Safitri

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The aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of teaching kindness in preschool children by using several techniques. Kindness is a physical act or emotional support aimed to build or maintain relationships with others. Kindness is known to be essential in the development of moral reasoning to distinguish between the good and bad things. In this study, kindness is operationalized as several acts including helping friends, comforting sad friends, inviting friends to play, protecting others, sharing, saying hello, saying thank you, encouraging others, and apologizing. It is mentioned that kindness is crucial to be developed in preschool children because this is the time the children begin to interact with their social environment through play. Furthermore, preschool children's cognitive development makes them begin to represent the world with words, which then allows them to interact with others. On the other hand, preschool children egocentric thinking makes them still need to learn to consider another person's perspective. In relation to social interaction, preschool children need to be stimulated and assisted by adult to be able to pay attention to other and act with kindness toward them. On teaching kindness to children, the quality of interaction between children and their significant others is the key factor. It is known that preschool children learn about kindness by imitating adults on their two way interaction. Specifically, this study examines two types of teaching techniques that can be done by parents as a way to teach kindness, namely the picture-storybook reading and hand-puppet storytelling. These techniques were examined because both activities are easy to do and both also provide a model of behavior for the child based on the character in the story. To specifically examine those techniques effectiveness in teaching kindness, two studies were conducted. Study I involves 31 children aged 5-6 years old with picture-storybook reading technique, where the intervention is done by reading 8 picture books for 8 days. In study II, hand-puppet storytelling technique is examined to 32 children aged 3-5 years old. The treatments effectiveness are measured using an instrument in the form of nine colored cards that describe the behavior of kindness. Data analysis using Wilcoxon Signed-rank test shows a significant difference on the average score of kindness (p < 0.05) before and after the intervention has been held. For daily observation, a ‘kindness tree’ and observation sheets are used which are filled out by the teacher. Two weeks after interventions, an improvement on all kindness behaviors measured is intact. The same result is also gained from both ‘kindness tree’ and observational sheets.

Keywords: kindness, moral teaching, storytelling, hand puppet

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Authors: T. Rocha, P. Carvalho, S. Paredes, J. Henriques, A. Bianchi, V. Traver, A. Martinez

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The main goal of LINK project is to join competences in intelligent processing in order to create a research ecosystem to address two central scientific and technical challenges for personal health care (PHC) deployment: i) how to merge clinical evidence knowledge in computational decision support systems for PHC management and ii) how to provide achieve personalized services, i.e., solutions adapted to the specific user needs and characteristics. The final goal of one of the work packages (WP2), designated Sustainable Linking and Synergies for Excellence, is the definition, implementation and coordination of the necessary activities to create and to strengthen durable links between the LiNK partners. This work focuses on the strategy that has been followed to achieve the definition of the Research Tracks (RT), which will support a set of actions to be pursued along the LiNK project. These include common research activities, knowledge transfer among the researchers of the consortium, and PhD student and post-doc co-advisement. Moreover, the RTs will establish the basis for the definition of concepts and their evolution to project proposals.

Keywords: LiNK Twin European Project, personal health care, cardiovascular diseases, research tracks

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Authors: Mazeni Ismail, Nurul Aliah, Hasmadi Hassan

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The purpose of this study is to gather the consensus of experts regarding the use of moral guidance amongst preschool teachers vis-a-vis the Islamic Project module (I-Project Module). This I-Project Module seeks to provide pertinent data on the assimilation of noble values in subject-matter teaching. To obtain consensus for the various components of the module, the Modified Delphi technique was used to develop the module. 12 subject experts from various educational fields of Islamic education, early childhood education, counselling and language fully participated in the development of this module. The Modified Delphi technique was administered in two mean cycles. The standard deviation value derived from questionnaires completed by the participating panel of experts provided the value of expert consensus reached. This was subsequently analyzed using SPSS version 22. Findings revealed that the panel of experts reached a discernible degree of agreement on five topics outlined in the module, viz; content (mean value 3.36), teaching strategy (mean value 3.28), programme duration (mean value 3.0), staff involved and attention-grabbing strategy of target group participating in the value program (mean value 3.5), and strategy to attract attention of target group to utilize i-project (mean value 3.0). With regard to the strategy to attract the attention of the target group, the experts proposed for creative activities to be added in order to enhance teachers’ creativity.

Keywords: Modified Delphi Technique, Islamic project, noble values, teacher moral guidance

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Authors: Alexandra Aslanidou

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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), concerning the protection of natural persons within the European Union with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, became applicable in the European Union (EU) on 25 May 2018 and transformed the way personal data were being treated under the Data Protection Directive (DPD) regime, generating sweeping organizational changes to both public sector and business. A social practice that is considerably influenced in the way of its day-to-day operations is Human Resource (HR) management, for which the importance of GDPR cannot be underestimated. That is because HR processes personal data coming in all shapes and sizes from many different systems and sources. The significance of the proper functioning of an HR department, specifically in human-centered, service-oriented environments such as the education field, is decisive due to the fact that HR operations in schools, conducted effectively, determine the quality of the provided services and consequently have a considerable impact on the success of the educational system. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the decisive role that GDPR plays in HR departments that operate in schools and in order to practically evaluate the aftermath of the Regulation during the first months of its applicability; a comparative use cases analysis in five highly dynamic schools, across three EU Member States, was attempted.

Keywords: general data protection regulation, human resource management, educational system

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Authors: Shinhao Yang, Hsiao-Chien Huang, Chin-Hsiang Luo

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The leakage of protective clothing is an important issue in the occupational health field. There is no quantitative method for measuring the leakage of personal protective equipment. This work aims to measure the quantitative leakage of the personal protective equipment by using the fluorochrome aerosol tracer. The fluorescent aerosols were employed as airborne particulates in a controlled chamber with ultraviolet (UV) light-detectable stickers. After an exposure-and-leakage test, the protective equipment was removed and photographed with UV-scanning to evaluate areas, color depth ratio, and aerosol deposition and shielding effects of the areas where fluorescent aerosols had adhered to the body through the protective equipment. Thus, this work built a calculation software for quantitative leakage ratio of protective clothing based on fluorescent illumination depth/aerosol concentration ratio, illumination/Fa ratio, aerosol deposition and shielding effects, and the leakage area ratio on the segmentation. The results indicated that the two-repetition total leakage rate of the X, Y, and Z type protective clothing for subject T were about 3.05, 4.21, and 3.52 (mg/m2). For five-repetition, the leakage rate of T were about 4.12, 4.52, and 5.11 (mg/m2).

Keywords: fluorochrome, deposition, shielding effects, digital image processing, leakage ratio, personal protective equipment

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Authors: Christopher Celozzi, Sarah Kochav

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Our research investigates the numerous challenges faced by Chinese ESL university students enrolled in the medical and related healthcare professional fields. The over-arching research question is how gender influences classroom participation and learning. The second research question addressed is 'what instructional strategies may be utilized to promote student participation and language acquisition?'. Participants’ language ability has been assessed and evaluated in order to facilitate the establishment of a statistical baseline for the subsequent intervention. This research delves deeper into each individual’s personal and academic circumstances, in an effort to reveal any held intrinsic gender beliefs and social identities that may influence learning. Also considered is the impact on learning for a homogenized student population within a uniform, highly structured learning environment. Specially, what is the influence of China’s ‘one-child policy’ on individual learning habits? The impact of their millennial identity and reliance on social media is also examined. A qualitative methodology with a case study approach is employed, with interviews conducted among the participants. Student response to the intervention and selected remediation strategies are documented, analyzed and discussed. The findings of the study may serve to inform educator instructional practice, while advancing the student learner in their pursuit of English competency in highly competitive professions.

Keywords: Chinese students, gender, English, language acquisition

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Authors: Laura Niño Cáceres, Daisy Yoo, Caroline Hummels

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COVID-19 accelerated digital healthcare technology usage in many countries, such as Colombia, whose digital healthcare vision and projects are proof of this. However, with a significant cultural indigenous and Afro-Colombian heritage, only some parts of the country are willing to follow the proposed digital Western approach to health. Our paper presents the national healthcare system’s digital narrative, which we contrast with the micro-narrative of an Afro-Colombian ethnomedicine unit in Bogota called Kilombo Yumma. This ethnomedical unit is building its mobile app to safeguard and represent its ancestral medicine practices in local and national healthcare information systems. Kilombo Yumma is keen on promoting their beliefs and practices, which have been passed on through oral traditions and currently exist in the hands of a few older women. We unraveled their ambition, core beliefs, and practices through asset-based design. These assets outlined pluriversal and decolonizing forms of digital healthcare to increase social justice and connect Western and ancestral medicine digital opportunities through HCI.

Keywords: asset-based design, mobile app, decolonizing HCI, Afro-Colombian ancestral medicine

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Authors: J. Dutton, L. Knight

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Achieving quality and respectful maternal health care is part of the global agenda to improve reproductive health and achieve universal reproductive rights. Barriers to quality of care in South African maternal health facilities exist at both systemic and individual levels. Addition to this, the normalization of gender violence within South Africa has a large impact on people seeking health care as well as those who provide care within health facilities. The hierarchical environment of South Africa’s public health system penalizes both patients and providers who battle to assume any assessable power. This paper explores how systemic and individual level barriers to quality of care affect the midwifery profession within South African maternal health services and create, at times, an environment of enmity rather than care. This paper analyzes and discusses the data collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nurses and midwives at three maternal health facilities in South Africa. This study has taken a holistic approach to understand the realities of nurses and midwives in order to explore the ways in which experience informs their practice and treatment of pregnant women. Through collecting and analyzing narratives, linkages between nurses and midwives day-to-day and historical experiences and disrespectful care have been made. Findings from this study show that barriers to quality of care take form in complex and interrelated ways. The physical structure of the health facility, human resource shortages, and the current model of maternal health care, which often lacks a person-centered approach, is entangled within personal beliefs and attitudes of what it means to be a midwife to create an environment that is often not conducive to a positive birthing experience. This entanglement sits within a society of high rates of violence, inequality, and poverty. Having teased out the nuances of each of these barriers and the multiple ways they reinforce each other, the findings of this paper demonstrate that birth, and the work of a midwife, are situated in a mode of discipline and punishment within this context. For analytical purposes, this paper has broken down the individual barriers to quality care and discusses the current and historical significance before returning to the interrelated forms in which barriers to quality maternal health care manifest. In conclusion this paper questions the role of agency in the ability to subvert systemic barriers to quality care and ideas around shifting attitudes and beliefs of and about midwives. International and local policies and guidelines have a role to play in realizing such shifts, however, as this paper suggests, when policy does not speak to the local context there is the risk of it contributing to frustrations and impeding the path to quality and respectful maternal health care.

Keywords: disrespect and abuse in childbirth, midwifery, South African maternal health care, quality of care

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Authors: Priyanka Tamta, Sukanya Sharma

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The Kamakhya Temple in Assam plays a very important role in the development of Assam as not only a historical place but also as an archaeologically important site. Temple building activity on the site began in 5th century AD when a cave temple dedicated to Lord Balabhadraswami was constructed here by King Maharajadhiraja Sri Surendra Varman. In the history of Assam, the name of this king is not found and neither the name of this form of Vishnu is known in this region. But this inscription sanctified the place as it recorded the first ever temple building activity in this region. The fifteen hundred years habitation history of the Kamakhya temple sites shows a gradual progression of the site from a religious site to an archaeological site and finally as a historical landmark. Here, in this paper, our main objective is to understand the evolution of Kamakhya temple site as a historical landscape and as an important landmark in the history of Assam. The central theme of the paper is the gradual development of the religious site to a historical landmark. From epigraphical records, it is known that the site received patronage from all ruling dynasties of Assam and its adjoining regions. Royal households of Kashmir, Nepal, Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, etc. have left their footprints on the site. According to records they donated wealth, constructed or renovated temples and participated in the overall maintenance of the deity. This made Kamakhya temple a ground of interaction of faiths, communities, and royalties of the region. Since the 5th century AD, there was a continuous struggle between different beliefs, faiths, and power on the site to become the dominant authority of the site. In the process, powerful beliefs system subsumed minor ones into a larger doctrine of beliefs. This can be seen in the case of the evolution of the Kamakhya temple site as one of the important Shakta temples in India. Today, it is cultural identity marker of the state of Assam within which it is located. Its diverse faiths and beliefs have been appropriated by powerful legends to the dominant faith of the land. The temple has evolved from a cave temple to a complex of seventeen temples. The faith has evolved from the worship of water, an element of nature to the worship of the ten different forms of the goddess with their five male consorts or Bhairavas. Today, it represents and symbolizes the relationship of power and control out of which it has emerged. During different periods of occupation certain architectural and iconographical characters developed which indicated diffusion and cultural adaptation. Using this as sources and the epigraphical records this paper will analyze the interactive and dynamic processes which operated in the building of this cultural marker, the archaeological site of Kamakhya.

Keywords: cultural adaptation and diffusion, cultural and historical landscape, Kamakhya, Saktism, temple art and architecture, historiography

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Authors: Marta Maria Aguilar Carceles

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This theoretical study argues how terrorism is rising around the world and which are the factors and situations that contribute to this process. Linked to aspects of human development, minors are one of the most vulnerable collectives to be engaged for this purpose. Its special weakness and lower possibility of self-defense makes them more likely to become victims as a result of a brainwashing process. Terrorism is an illicit way to achieve political and social changes and new technologies and available resources make it easier to spread. In this sense, throughout a theoretical revision of different recent and scientific articles, it is evaluated which risk factors can provoke its affiliation and later develop of antisocial and illicit behavior. An example of this group of factors could be the inter-generational continuity between parents and their children, as well as the sociodemographic aspects joined to cultural experiences (i.e. sense of dishonor, frustration, etc.). The assess of this kind of variables must be accompanied by the evaluation of protective factors, because the reasons through one person decides to join to terrorism are inherently idiosyncratic and we can only install mechanisms of prevention knowing those personal characteristics. To sum, both aspects underline the relevance of the internalizing and externalizing personal factors, each of them in one specific direction: a) to increase the possibility of being recruited or follow this type of criminal group by himself, and b) to be able of avoiding the effects and consequences of terrorism thanks to personal and resilient characteristics (resilience).

Keywords: criminality, minors, recruitment, resilience, terrorism

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Authors: Ivana Bulog, Ana Rimac Smiljanić, Sandra Pepur

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The financial fragility of households has received increased attention following the recent health crisis, which has created uncertainty and caused increased levels of stress and consequently impaired individual and family well-being. Job losses and/or reduced wages and insecurity increased the number of people that were unable to meet unexpected expenses, which, in many cases, led to increased household debt levels. This presents a threat to the stability of the financial system and the whole economy; therefore, reducing financial fragility and improving financial literacy present challenges for academicians, practitioners, and policymakers. Concerning financial fragility, significant research attention has been devoted to financial knowledge and financial literacy. However, apart from specific knowledge, personal characteristics are of great importance in making financial decisions in the household. Self-efficacy is one of the personal non-cognitive attributes that is a valuable framework for understanding how household financial decisions are made. Thus, this research proposes that individual levels of financial literacy and self-efficacy are related to the indebtedness and financial instability of the household. The primary data were collected using a structured, self-administered online questionnaire, and a snowball sampling method was applied to reach the participants. Preliminary results confirm our assumptions on the influence of financial literacy and self-efficacy on household financial stability.

Keywords: financial literacy, self-efficacy, household financial fragility, well-being

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Authors: Francisco Fernandez de Castro

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The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) model gives monetary transfers to beneficiary families on the condition that they take specific education and health actions. According to the economic rationale of CCTs the poor need incentives to invest in their human capital because they are trapped by a lack of information and misleading beliefs. If left to their own decision, the poor will not be able to choose what is in their best interests. The basic assumption of the CCT model is that the poor need incentives to take care of their own education and health-nutrition. Due to the incentives (income cash transfers and conditionalities), beneficiary families are supposed to attend doctor visits and health talks. Children would stay in the school. These incentivized behaviors would produce outcomes such as better health and higher level of education, which in turn will reduce poverty. Based on a grounded theory approach to conduct a two-year period of qualitative data collection in northern Mexico, this study shows that this explanation is incomplete. In addition to the information failure and inadequate beliefs, there are structural barriers in everyday life of households that make health-nutrition and education investments difficult. In-depth interviews and observation work showed that the program takes for granted local conditions in which beneficiary families should fulfill their co-responsibilities. Data challenged the program’s assumptions and unveiled local obstacles not contemplated in the program’s design. These findings have policy and research implications for the CCT agenda. They bring elements for late programming due to the gap between the CCT strategy as envisioned by policy designers, and the program that beneficiary families experience on the ground. As for research consequences, these findings suggest new avenues for scholarly work regarding the causal mechanisms and social processes explaining CCT outcomes.

Keywords: conditional cash transfers, incentives, poverty, structural barriers

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Authors: Minjeoung Kim

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Since women obtained the right to vote in 1893 for the first time in New Zealand, they have tried to participate actively into politics but still the world has a few women in political leadership. The article asks which factors might influence the appearance of women leadership in politics. The article investigates two factors such as political context, personal factors. Countries where economic development is stable and political democracy is consolidated have a tendency of appearance of women political leadership but in less developed and politically unstable countries, women politicians can be in power with their own reasons. For the personal factor, their feminist propensity is studied but there is no relationship between the appearance of women leaders and their feminist propensity.

Keywords: women political leadership, political context, slow track, transitory countries, feminist propensity

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Authors: Mozhde Shafie, Nahid Naderi, Mandana Mangeli

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Is it true to say that Saadi was an idealized embodiment of his moral teachings in Gulistan and Boustan? The body of criticism on Saadi’s works suggests that his biography provides no clear and valid information to judge about the extent to which Saadi acted what he preached. His moral teachings depict a sort of individual and social morality which is defined in relation to power and falls in the category of political ethics. Political ethics appear as for the noble and the subordinate in Gulistan and Boustan. Ethics for the noble include all his teachings for governors and rulers in eulogies. On the other hand, ethics for the subordinate include all his suggestions for the public in relation to power position. Here, Saadi puts forward some conservative recommendations that trigger some contemporary critical commentaries. However, there are some cases where he takes up a third person narrative position to narrate the story of a king and a mendicant. In these stories, the mendicant is a witty man with bitter criticism on society, implying that one should relinquish earthly pleasures and advantages if he wants his criticism to be acceptable. First person narratives fall in two categories determinate and indeterminate narratives. Indirect speeches reflecting biographical facts are indeterminate narratives which give no information about the poet’s personality. Other narratives are more of an autobiography that report probable observations. These latter narratives demonstrate Saadi as a man quick at repartee that feels free to disclose his poverty and some cases of impiety. Therefore, they provide no idealized picture of the poet in terms of ethical principles.

Keywords: Saadi, ethics, Boustan, Gulistan, first-person narrative

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Authors: Guillaume P. Fernandez

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Individual language use is a matter of choice in particular interactions. The paper proposes a conceptual and theoretical framework with methodological consideration to develop how language produced in dyadic relations is to be considered and situated in the larger social configuration the interaction is embedded within. An integrated and comprehensive view is taken: social interactions are expected to be ruled by a normative context, defined by the chain of interdependences that structures the personal network. In this approach, the determinants of discursive practices are not only constrained by the moment of production and isolated from broader influences. Instead, the position the individual and the dyad have in the personal network influences the discursive practices in a twofold manner: on the one hand, the network limits the access to linguistic resources available within it, and, on the other hand, the structure of the network influences the agency of the individual, by the social control inherent to particular network characteristics. Concretely, we investigate how and to what extent consistent ego is from one interaction to another in his or her use of adverbs. To do so, social network analysis (SNA) methods are mobilized. Participants (N=130) are college students recruited in the french speaking part of Switzerland. The personal network of significant ones of each individual is created using name generators and edge interpreters, with a focus on social support and conflict. For the linguistic parts, respondents were asked to record themselves with five of their close relations. From the recordings, we computed an average similarity score based on the adverb used across interactions. In terms of analyses, two are envisaged: First, OLS regressions including network-level measures, such as density and reciprocity, and individual-level measures, such as centralities, are performed to understand the tenets of linguistic similarity from one interaction to another. The second analysis considers each social tie as nested within ego networks. Multilevel models are performed to investigate how the different types of ties may influence the likelihood to use adverbs, by controlling structural properties of the personal network. Primary results suggest that the more cohesive the network, the less likely is the individual to change his or her manner of speaking, and social support increases the use of adverbs in interactions. While promising results emerge, further research should consider a longitudinal approach to able the claim of causality.

Keywords: personal network, adverbs, interactions, social influence

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Authors: Malik Imtiaz Ahmad

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Human beings are the super organism granted the gift of consciousness of life by the Almighty God and endowed with an intrinsic legal value to their humanity that shall be guarded and protected respecting dignity regardless of your cultural, religious, race, or physical background; you want to be treated equally for a reason for being human. Islam graces the essential integrity of humanity and confirms the freedom and accountability impact on individuality and the open societal sphere, including the moral, economic, and political aspects. Human Rights allow people to live with dignity, equality, justice, freedom, and peace. The Kantian approach to morality expresses that ethical actions follow universal moral laws. Hence, human rights are based upon the normative approaches setting the international standards to promote, guard, and protect the fundamental rights of the people. Islam is a divine religion commanding human rights based upon the principles of social justice and regulates all facets of the moral and spiritual ethics of Muslims besides bringing balance abreast in the non-Muslims to respect their lives with safety and security and property. The Canon law manifests the faith and equality amongst Christianity, regulating the communal dignity to build and promote the sanctity of Holy life (can. 208 to 223). This concept of the community is developed after the insight of the Islamic 'canon law', which is the code of revelation itself and inseparable from the natural part of the salvation of mankind. The etymology and history of human rights is a polemical debate in a preview of Islamic and Western culture. On the other hand, international law is meticulous about the fundamental part of Conon law that focuses on the communal political, social and economic relationship. The evolving process of human rights is considered to be an exclusive universal thought regarding an open society that forms a legal base for the constituent of international instruments of the protection of Human Rights, viz. UDHR. On the other side, Muslim scholars emphasize that human rights are devolving around Islamic law. Both traditions need a dire explanation of contemporary openness for bringing the harmonious universal law acceptable and applicable to the international communities concerning the anthropology of political, economic, and social aspects of a human being.

Keywords: human rights-based approach (HRBA), human rights in Islam, evolution of universal human rights, conflict in western, Islamic human rights

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Authors: Selma Karabinar

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Lifelong learning can be described as a system where learning takes place for a person over the course of a lifespan and comprises formal, non-formal and informal learning to achieve the maximum possible improvement in personal, social, and vocational life. 21st century is marked with the digital technologies and people need to learn and adapt to new literacies as part of their lifelong learning. Our current knowledge gap brings to mind several questions: Do people with digital mindsets have different assumptions about affordances of digital technologies? How do digital mindsets lead language learners use digital technologies within and beyond classrooms? Does digital literacies have different significance for the learners? The presentation is based on a study attempted to answer these questions and show the relationship between lifelong learning and digital literacies. The study was conducted with learners of English language at a state university in Istanbul. The quantitative data in terms of participants' lifelong learning perception was collected through a lifelong learning scale from 150 students. Then 5 students with high and 5 with low lifelong learning perception were interviewed. They were questioned about their personal sense of agency in lifelong learning and how they use digital technologies in their language learning. Therefore, the qualitative data was analyzed in terms of their knowledge about digital literacies and actual use of it in their personal and educational life. The results of the study suggest why teaching new literacies are important for lifelong learning and also suggests implications for language teachers' education and language pedagogy.

Keywords: digital mindsets, language learning, lifelong learning, new literacies

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Authors: Akankunda Veronicah Karuhanga

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Dementia is an age mental disorder that makes victims lose normal functionality that needs delicate attention. It has been technically defined as a clinical syndrome that presents a number of difficulties in speech and other cognitive functions that change someone’s behaviors and can also cause impairments in activities of daily living, not forgetting a range of neurological disorders that bring memory loss and cognitive impairment. Family members are the primary healthcare givers and therefore, the way how they handle the situation in its early stages determines future deterioration syndromes like total memory loss. Unfortunately, most family members are ignorant about this condition and in most cases, the patients are brought to our facilities when their condition was already mismanaged by family members and we thus cannot do much. For example, incontinence can be managed at early stages through potty training or toilet scheduling before resorting to 24/7 diapers which are also not good. Professional Elderly care should be understood and practiced as an extension of homes, not a dumping place for people considered “abnormal” on account of ignorance. Immediate relatives should therefore be sensitized concerning the normalcy of dementia in the context of old age so that they can be understanding and supportive of dementia patients rather than discriminating against them as present-day lepers. There is a need to skill home-based caregivers on how to handle dementia in its early stages. Unless this is done, many of our elderly homes shall be filled with patients who should have been treated and supported from their homes. This skilling of home-based caregivers is a vital intervention because until elderly care is appreciated as a human moral obligation, many transactional rehabilitation centers will crop up and this shall be one of the worst moral decadences of our times.

Keywords: dementia, family, Alzheimers, relevancy

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Authors: Inigo de Miguel Beriain

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Genetic data of deceased persons are of great interest for both biomedical research and clinical use. This is due to several reasons. On the one hand, many of our diseases have a genetic component; on the other hand, we share genes with a good part of our biological family. Therefore, it would be possible to improve our response considerably to these pathologies if we could use these data. Unfortunately, at the present moment, the status of data on the deceased is far from being satisfactorily resolved by the EU data protection regulation. Indeed, the General Data Protection Regulation has explicitly excluded these data from the category of personal data. This decision has given rise to a fragmented legal framework on this issue. Consequently, each EU member state offers very different solutions. For instance, Denmark considers the data as personal data of the deceased person for a set period of time while some others, such as Spain, do not consider this data as such, but have introduced some specifically focused regulations on this type of data and their access by relatives. This is an extremely dysfunctional scenario from multiple angles, not least of which is scientific cooperation at the EU level. This contribution attempts to outline a solution to this dilemma through an alternative proposal. Its main hypothesis is that, in reality, health data are, in a sense, a rara avis within data in general because they do not refer to one person but to several. Hence, it is possible to think that all of them can be considered data subjects (although not all of them can exercise the corresponding rights in the same way). When the person from whom the data were obtained dies, the data remain as personal data of his or her biological relatives. Hence, the general regime provided for in the GDPR may apply to them. As these are personal data, we could go back to thinking in terms of a general prohibition of data processing, with the exceptions provided for in Article 9.2 and on the legal bases included in Article 6. This may be complicated in practice, given that, since we are dealing with data that refer to several data subjects, it may be complex to refer to some of these bases, such as consent. Furthermore, there are theoretical arguments that may oppose this hypothesis. In this contribution, it is shown, however, that none of these objections is of sufficient substance to delegitimize the argument exposed. Therefore, the conclusion of this contribution is that we can indeed build a general framework on the processing of personal data of deceased persons in the context of the GDPR. This would constitute a considerable improvement over the current regulatory framework, although it is true that some clarifications will be necessary for its practical application.

Keywords: collective data conceptual issues, data from deceased people, genetic data protection issues, GDPR and deceased people

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Authors: Raleigh Blasdell, Amanda M. Sharp Parker, Lauren Waldrop, Brigid Toney

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It has been demonstrated that fictional media sources have persuasive effects on public beliefs; this study contributes to the social constructionist literature by conducting a content analysis of U.S. major motion pictures involving terrorism. Using the Unified Film Population Sampling Methodology, the top-grossing films were identified to examine the frequency and context of several constructs of terrorism, including terrorist demographics, type of terrorism, country of origin, organizational affiliation, crime typology, and victim demographics. Comparisons of these constructs, as depicted in the films, were then made with the extant academic literature on terrorism. The data provide notable information regarding the representation of terrorism by the film industry, as well the discrepancies between the scholarly literature and depictions in popular films. The results indicate vast differences between fiction and reality, emphasizing a 'Middle Eastern Islamic male' terrorist stereotype. Using the theoretical foundation of social constructionism, the findings provide insight into how inaccurate depictions in film can influence society’s beliefs about terrorism and terrorists, which subsequently can translate into public support for legislation and policies that are often fueled by misinformation.

Keywords: film, media, social constructionism, terrorism

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Authors: Baba Iddrisu Musah

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Many Ghanaians, including the rich and downtrodden, elite and unlettered, rural and urban dwellers, politicians and civil servants, in one way or the other, believe in and practice witchcraft. The existence of witches’ camp in northern Ghana, the rise of Pentecostal churches, especially in southern Ghana with the penchant to cleanse people of witchcraft, as well as media reports of witchcraft imputations assuming wider dimensions in the country, often classified as a citadel of democracy, good governance and human rights in Africa, buttress the pervasive nature of belief in and the practice of witchcraft in the country. This is in spite of the fact that tremendous efforts, especially by British colonial authorities, were made to regulate witchcraft beliefs and its associated practices. Informed by Western values and philosophy, witchcraft was considered by colonial authorities as illogical and unscientific. This paper, which is largely a review of existing literature, supplemented by archival information from the national archives of Ghana, focuses on the nature of witchcraft regulation in Ghana’s pre-colonial and colonial past, as well as immediately after Ghana obtained her independence in 1957. This article concludes by rhetorically questioning whether or not believing in and the practice of witchcraft in contemporary Ghana in general, and the existence of witches’ camps in the northern region of the country are attributed to the failure of past regulations, as well as the failure of present government policies.

Keywords: colonial, natives, regulation, witchcraft

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Authors: Bruce Small, Martin Espig, Alyssa Ryan

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In the agricultural sector, the rapid expansion of herbicide resistant weeds is a major threat to the global sustainability of food and fibre production. Efforts to avoid herbicide resistance have primarily focused on new technologies and farmer education. Yet, despite decades of advice to growers from agricultural scientists and extension professionals of the need for management strategies for herbicide use, herbicide resistance continues to increase. Technological options are running out and current extension efforts to change farmer behaviour are failing to curb the problem. As part of a five-year, government funded, research programme to address herbicide resistance in New Zealand, social science theory and practice are being utilised to investigate the complexities of managing herbicide use and controlling resistance. As an initial step, we are utilising a transdisciplinary, multi-level systems approach to examine the problem definition, knowledge beliefs, attitudes and values of different important actors in the agri-business sector. In this paper, we report early project results from qualitative research examining the similarities and contrasts in the perceptions of scientists, farmer/growers, and rural professionals.

Keywords: behaviour change, herbicide resistant weeds, knowledge beliefs, systems perspective

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