Search results for: ministry of culture and Islamic guidance (Iran)

Authors: Joanne Sin Wei Yeoh, Quynh Lê, Rosa McManamey

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Food security indicates the ability of individuals, households and communities to acquire food that is healthy, sustainable, affordable, appropriate and accessible. Despite Australia’s current ability to produce enough food to feed a population larger than its current population, there has been substantial evidence over the last decades to demonstrate many Australians struggle to feed themselves, including those from a cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) background. The study aimed to investigate migrants’ perceptions and experiences on food security in Tasmania. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 migrants residing in North, South and North West Tasmania, who were recruited through purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the interview data. Four main themes were identified from the interview data: (1) Understanding of food security; (2) Experiences with the food security in Tasmania; (3) Factors that influence migrants’ food security in Tasmania; and (4) Acculturation strategies. Various sub-themes have emerged under each of these four major themes. Though the findings indicate participants are satisfied with their current food security in Tasmania, they still encounter some challenges in food availability, accessibility, and affordability in Tasmania. Factors that influence migrants’ food security were educational background, language barrier, socioeconomic status, geographical isolation, and cultural background. By using different acculturation strategies, migrants managed to adapt to the new food culture. In addition, social and cultural capitals were also treated as vital roles in improving migrants’ food security. The findings indicate migrants residing in Tasmania face different challenges on food security. They use different strategies for food security while acculturating into a new environment. The findings may provide useful information for migrants in Australia and various private organisations or relevant government departments that address food security for migrants.

Keywords: experiences, food security, migrants, perceptions

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Authors: Saowapa Phaithayawat

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The purposes of this study are 1) to study the over 20-year attempt of Mahakan fort community to negotiate with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to remain in their residential area belonging to the state, and 2) to apply the new social and cultural dimension between the state and the community as an alternative for local participation in keeping their residential area. This is a qualitative research, and the findings reveal that the community claimed their ancestors’ right as owners of this piece of land for over 200 years. The community, therefore, requested to take part in the preservation of land, culture and local intellect and the area management in terms of being a learning resource on the cultural road in Rattanakosin Island. However, BMA imposed the law concerning the community area relocation in Rattanakosin Island. The result of law enforcement led to the failure of the area relocation, and the hard hit on physical structure of the area including the overall deterioration of the cultural road renovated in the year 1982, the 200 years’ celebration of Bangkok. The enforcement of law by the state required the move of the community, and the landscape improvement based on the capital city plan. However, this enforcement resulted in the unending conflicts between the community and the state, and the solution of this problem was unclear. At the same time the community has spent a long time opposing the state’s action, and preparing themselves by administrating the community behind Mahakan fortress with community administrative committee under the suggestion of external organization by registering all community members, providing funds for community administration. At the meantime the state lacked the continuation of the enforcement due to political problem and BMA’s administration problem. It is, therefore, suggested that an alternative solution to this problem lie at the negotiation between the state and the community with the purpose of the collaboration between the two to develop the area under the protective law of each side.

Keywords: Pom-Mahakan community, reduction of conflicts, social area disclosure, residential area

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Authors: Isaiah Phillip Smith, Sam Erevbenagie Usadolo, Pamela Theresa Tancsik

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This paper is part of ongoing doctoral research that examines the role of Theatre for Development (TfD) in addressing climate change in the Mosuthu community in Reservoir Hills, Durban, South Africa. The context of the research underscores the pressing challenges facing South Africa, including drought, water shortages, deterioration of land, and civil unrest that require innovative approaches to the mitigation of climate change. TfD, described as a dialogical form of theatre that allows communities to express and contribute to development, emerges as a strategic medium for engaging communities in the process. The research problem focused on the unexamined potential of TfD in promoting community involvement and critical awareness of climate change. The study objectives included assessing the community's understanding of climate change, exploring TfD's potential as a participatory tool, examining its role in community mobilization, and developing recommendations for its effective implementation. A review of relevant literature and preliminary investigations in the research community indicates that TfD is an effective medium for promoting societal transformation and engaging marginalized communities. Through culturally resonant narratives, TfD can instill a deeper understanding of environmental challenges, fostering empathy and motivating behavioural changes. By integrating community voices and cultural elements, TfD serves as a powerful catalyst for promoting climate change awareness and inspiring collective action within the South African context. This research contributes to the global discourse on innovative approaches to climate change awareness and action.

Keywords: TfD, climate change, community involvement, societal transformation, culture

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Authors: Liu Yang

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Calligraphy has a unique aesthetic value in Chinese traditional culture. Calligraphy reflects the physical beauty and the dynamic beauty of things through the structure of writing and the order of strokes to standardize the style of writing. In recent years, Chinese researchers have carried out research on the appreciation of calligraphy works from the perspective of psychology, such as how Chinese people appreciate the beauty of stippled lines, the beauty of virtual and real, and the beauty of the composition. However, there is currently no domestic research on how foreigners appreciate Chinese calligraphy. People's appreciation of calligraphy is mainly in the form of visual perception, and psychologists have been working on the use of eye trackers to record eye tracking data to explore the relationship between eye tracking and psychological activities. The purpose of this experimental study is to use eye tracking recorders to analyze the eye gaze trajectories of college students with different cultural backgrounds when they appreciate the same calligraphy work to reveal the differences in cognitive processing with different cultural backgrounds. It was found that Chinese students perceived calligraphy as words when viewing calligraphy works, so they first noticed fonts with easily recognizable glyphs, and the overall viewed time was short. Foreign students perceived calligraphy works as graphics, and they first noticed novel and abstract fonts, and the overall viewing time is longer. The understanding of calligraphy content has a certain influence on the appreciation of calligraphy works by foreign students. It is shown that when foreign students who understand the content of calligraphy works. The eye tracking path is more consistent with the calligraphy writing path, and it helps to develop associations with calligraphy works to better understand the connotation of calligraphy works. This result helps us understand the impact of cultural background differences on calligraphy appreciation and helps us to take more effective strategies to help foreign audiences understand Chinese calligraphy art.

Keywords: Chinese calligraphy, eye-tracking, cross-cultural, cultural communication

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Authors: Gokcen Akyurek, Hulya Kayihan, Deniz Yuce, Selen Yilmaz

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The stigma towards mental illness is still very rooted in our society, despite the number of studies, campaigns, and anti-stigma programs developed in recent years. Stigma represents a serious obstacle to recovery and social integration for people who experience a mental illness, affecting directly their well-being and quality of life. It implies that these persons have to deal with many other barriers apart from the disease symptoms (1-5). Convergent, recent literature suggests that less positive attitudes by mental health professionals interfere with the self-determination and recovery process (4-10).The aim of this study was to translate the Attribution Questionnaire-27 (AQ-27) to the Turkish language (AQ-27-T), and to examine the reliability and validity of this new Turkish version. Cultural adaptation was implemented according to the internationally suggested method. To determine the understandability and appropriateness of this measure for the Turkish culture, a pretest was administered and the final form was generated. Then, 424 randomly chosen people took part in the study. Participant’s mean age was 36.9±12.7 years and %52 of them female. Cronbach's alpha and intra-class coefficients were used to estimate instrument reliability. The AQ-27-T was assessed again 14 days later for test retest reliability. The AQ-27-T demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.88 for the total scale and ranging between 0.86 and 0.89 for the items. The test-retest reliability was good, with Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.79 for the total scale and ranging between 0.35 and 0.77 for the items (p<0.05). Correlation between subscales was moderate-good, with Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.18-0.88 (p<0.05). Fit indices of the model supported the factor structure and paths. The AQ-27-T is a reliable measure to assess stigmatizing attitudes in Turkish.

Keywords: attribution questionnaire, validity, reliability, stigma

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Authors: J. Magerman, P. Martin

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Nursing students' clinical abilities is highly dependent on the quality of the clinical experience obtained while placed in the clinical environment. The clinical environment has amongst other, key role players which include the clinical supervisor. The primary role of the clinical supervisor is to guide nursing students to become the best practice nursing professionals. However, globally literature alludes to the failure of educating institutions to deliver competent nursing professionals to meet the needs of patients and deliver quality patient care. At the participating university, this may be due to various factors such as large student numbers and social and environmental challenges experienced by clinical supervisors. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of clinical supervisors who supervise nursing students at a higher education institution. The study employed a qualitative research approach utilizing a descriptive phenomenological design. Purposive sampling was used to select participants, who supervised first and second year nursing studnets at the higher education institution under study. TH esample comprised of eight clinical supervisors who supervise first and secon year nursing studnets at teh institution under study. Data was collected by means of in-depht interviews. Data was analysed using Collaizzi's seven steps method of qualitative analysis. Five major themes identified , focussed on the experiences regarding time a sa constraint to job productivity, the impact of teh organisational culture on the fluidity of support, interpersonal relationships a sa dynamic communication process, impact on the self, and limited resources. Trustworthiness of the data was ensured by means of applying Guba's model of truth value, applicability, consistency and neutrality. Reflexivity was also used by the researcher to further enhance trustworthiness.

Keywords: clinical supervision, clinical supervisors, nursing students, clinical placements

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Authors: Aida Lamaj

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Death is an inevitable phenomenon in our life, in the same way, are also the ritual of death accompanied by the dirge and the keening performed by men. Keening is a phenomenon common among all peoples, the instances in which the ritual of death and keening coincide, as a special phenomenon of its, are numerous given the fact that keening is an outcome of an extremely special emotional state. However, even during the ritual of death, every people try to display through words its qualities, a multitude of characteristics preserved and transmitted with fanaticism from one generation to the other. The ritual of death constitutes an important element of our tradition and at the same time a material always interesting to be studied in minute details. In this study, we have tried to limit ourselves to the feminine speech, since keening, in general in Albania has been carried out by women. Differences and similarities among keening on the national scale, from the diachronic and synchronic point of view, can be seen clearly if we compare the Albanian creations in different regions. The similarities and differences within the Albanian culture serve as a typical paradigm to study how the ancient elements of outlook that the Albanians have had on death, history, and the social organization in these regions have been preserved and transmitted and above all, in what way these feelings have been clothed from the linguistic point of view, the typologies of keening and of all of the ritual of death, which clearly shows archaic forms as well as new developments. These data have been gathered not only by conducting various surveys but also by observing closely the linguistic behavior of women in Albania during the ritual of death. The study has encompassed the popular lyric poetry as well as new entries, whereas from the geographic point of view we focus mainly in the Southern regions, although examples from other regions where Albanian speaking people live are also present. The main results of the study show that women use much more than men dialect form, peripheral language elements and descriptive elements during their speech in the ritual of death.

Keywords: feminine speech in Albania, linguistic characteristics of the dirge, ritual of death, the typologies of keening

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Authors: Thomas J. Bell III

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Pursuing a business degree is fraught with perplexing questions regarding the rising tuition cost and the immediate value of earning a degree. Any decision to pursue an undergraduate business degree is perceived to have value if it facilitates post-graduate job placement. Business programs have decreased value in the absence of innovation in business programs that close the skills gap between recent graduates and employment opportunities. Industry-based certifications are seemingly becoming a requirement differentiator among job applicants. Texas Wesleyan University offers a Computer Information System (CIS) program with an innovative curriculum that integrates industry-recognized certification training into its traditional curriculum with core subjects and electives. This paper explores a culture of innovation in the CIS business program curriculum that creates sustainable stakeholder value for students, employers, the community, and the university. A quantitative research methodology surveying over one-hundred students in the CIS program will be used to examine factors influencing the success or failure of students taking certification exams. Researchers will analyze control variables to identify specific correlations between practice exams, teaching pedagogy, study time, age, work experience, etc. This study compared various exam preparation techniques to corresponding exam results across several industry certification exams. The findings will aid in understanding control variables with correlations that positively and negatively impact exam results. Such discovery may provide useful insight into pedagogical impact indicators that positively contribute to certification exam success and curriculum enhancement.

Keywords: taking certification exams, exam training, testing skills, exam study aids, certification exam curriculum

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Authors: Samira Eskandari

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The image of Tehran has been impacted in recent years due to poor urban management and fragmented governance. There is no cohesive urban beautification framework in Tehran to enforce builders take aesthetic factors seriously when design and construct new buildings. The existing guidelines merely provide people with recommendations, not regulations. Obviously, Tehran needs a more comprehensive and strict urban beautification framework to restore its image. The damaged image has impacted the city’s social, economic and environmental growth. This research aims to find and examine a solution by which the employment of urban beautification regulation would be guaranteed, and city image would be organized. The methodology is based on a qualitative approach associated with analytical methods, in-depth surveys and interviews with Tehran citizens, authorities and experts, and use of academic resources as well as simulation. As a result, one practical solution is to incorporate aesthetic guidelines into a survival-related framework like a seismic guideline. Tehran is a seismic site, and all the buildings in Tehran have to be retrofitted against earthquake during construction. Hence, by integrating seismic regulations and aesthetic disciplines, urban beautification will be somehow guaranteed. Besides, the seismic image can turn into Tehran’s brand and enhances city identity. This research is trying to increase the social, environmental, and economic interconnectedness between urban planning and seismic planning by the usage of landscape architecture methods. As a case study, the potential outcomes are simulated in Tajrish, a suburb located in the north of Tehran. The result is that, by the redefinition of the morphology of seismic retrofitting systems, used in the significant city image elements, and re-function them in accordance with the Iranian culture and traditions, the city image would become more harmonized and legible.

Keywords: earthquake, retrofitting systems, Tehran image, urban beautification

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Authors: Ayan Handulle, Memory J. Tembo-Pankuku

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The social work profession utilizes Western and Eurocentric perspectives on social structures, culture, history, belief systems, and education. This affects social work practice with indigenous groups as well as other minorities who have different perspectives. Some of the challenges that characterize social work with families, especially immigrants in western countries, are a result of different world views on child-rearing practices in the global north and the global south. A shift towards cultural sensitivity and the promotion of cultural competence has been a move towards addressing some of the challenges in child welfare practice with immigrants. However, emphasis on cultural differences presents other challenges of stereotyping and discrimination, which call for the examination of current practices to fit other groups of people. In this paper, we introduce the need for emancipatory social work in child welfare practice with immigrant parents. Emancipatory social work is directed at heightening awareness of external sources of oppression and/or privilege that hold the possibility of increasing self-esteem and courage to confront structural sources of marginalization, oppression, and exclusion. This paper draws on two research projects, respectively, “Immigrant parents’ perceptions and experiences of the welfare system” and “Norwegian- Somali parents’ fears of the Norwegian Child welfare service. The first data set comprises 15 in-depth interviews with 18 nonWestern immigrant parents, representing 10 families. The second data set consists of nine months of ethnography, seven months in Oslo, and two months in Somalia among returnees from Norway. Based on these data sets, we explore how immigrant parents’ child-rearing practices might be perceived through a racialized lens.

Keywords: child welfare, immigrants, racialization, social work

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Authors: Maria Venus G. Solares

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The ancient Filipinos had their own spelling or alphabet that differed from the modern Roman alphabet brought by the Spaniards. It consists of seventeen letters, three vowels, and fourteen consonants and is called Baybayin. The word Baybayin is a Tagalog word that refers to all the letters used in writing a language, an alphabet; however, it is also a syllable. The House Bill 4395, first proposed by Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil of the second district of Pangasinan in 2011, which later became House Bill 1022 of what he called The Declaration of the Baybayin as the National Writing System of the Philippines, prompted the researcher to conduct a study on the topic. The main objective of this study was to develop and assess the proposed module for enhancing the reading and writing skills in Baybayin of the students. The researchers wanted to ensure the acceptability of the Baybayin using the proposed module and meet the needs of students in developing their ability to read and write Baybayin through the module. The researchers used quasi-experimental research in this study. The data was collected through the initial and final analysis of the students of Adamson University's ABM 1102 using convenient sampling techniques. Based on statistical analysis of data using weighted mean, standard deviation, and paired t-tests, the proposed module helped improve the students' literacy skills, and the response exercises in the proposed module changed the acceptability of the Baybayin in their minds. The study showed that there was an important difference in the scores of students before and after the use of the module. The student's response to the assessment of their reading and writing skills on Baybayin was highly acceptable. This study will help develop the reading and writing skills of the students in Baybayin and teach Baybayin in response to the revival of a part of Philippine culture that has been long forgotten.

Keywords: Baybayin, proposed module, skill, acceptability

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Authors: Alan Walsh, Peter Walker, Michael Ellis

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There is a real danger that both practitioners and researchers considering risks associated with megaprojects ignore or underestimate the impacts of cultural risk. The paper investigates the potential impacts of a failure to achieve cultural unity between the principal actors executing a megaproject. The principle relationships include the relationships between the principle Contractors and the project stakeholders or the project stakeholders and their principle advisors, Western Consultants. This study confirms that cultural dissonance between these parties can delay or disrupt the megaproject execution and examines why cultural issues should be prioritized as a significant risk factor in megaproject delivery. This paper addresses the practical impacts and potential mitigation measures, which may reduce cultural dissonance for a megaproject's delivery. This information is retrieved from on-going case studies in live infrastructure megaprojects in Europe and the Middle East's GCC states, from Western Consultants' perspective. The collaborating researchers each have at least 30 years of construction experience and are engaged in architecture, project management and contracts management, dealing with megaprojects in Europe or the GCC. After examining the cultural interfaces they have observed during the execution of megaprojects, they conclude that globally, culture significantly influences their efficient delivery. The study finds that cultural risk is ever-present, where different nationalities co-manage megaprojects and that cultural conflict poses a real threat to the timely delivery of megaprojects. The study indicates that the higher the cultural distance between the principal actors, the more pronounced the risk, with the risk of cultural dissonance more prominent in GCC megaprojects. The findings support a more culturally aware and cohesive team approach and recommend cross-cultural training to mitigate the effects of cultural disparity.

Keywords: cultural risk underestimation, cultural distance, megaproject characteristics, megaproject execution

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Authors: Özlem Ateş Sönmezoğlu, Begüm Terzi, Ahmet Yıldırım, Leyla Gündüz

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Durum wheat quality is defined as its suitability for pasta processing, that is pasta making quality. Another factor that determines the quality of durum wheat is the nutritional value of wheat or its final products. Wheat is a basic source of calories, proteins and minerals for humans in many countries of the world. For this reason, improvement of wheat nutritional value is of great importance. In recent years, deficiencies in protein and micronutrients, particularly in iron and zinc, have seriously increased. Therefore, basic foods such as wheat must be improved for micronutrient content. The effects of some major genes for grain quality established. Gpc-B1 locus is one of the genes increased protein and micronutrients content, and used in improvement studies of durum wheat nutritional value. The aim of this study was to increase the protein content and the micronutrient (Fe, Zn ve Mn) contents of an advanced durum wheat line (TMB 1) that was previously improved for its protein quality. For this purpose, TMB1 advanced durum wheat line were used as the recurrent parent and also, UC1113-Gpc-B1 line containing the Gpc-B1 gene was used as the gene source. In all of the generations, backcrossed plants carrying the targeted gene region were selected by marker assisted selection (MAS). BC4F1 plants MAS method was employed in combination with embryo culture and rapid plant growth in a controlled greenhouse conditions in order to shorten the duration of the transition between generations in backcross breeding. The Gpc-B1 gene was selected specific molecular markers. Since Yr-36 gene associated with Gpc-B1 allele, it was also transferred to the Gpc-B1 transferred lines. Thus, the backcrossed plants selected by MAS are resistance to yellow rust disease. This research has been financially supported by TÜBİTAK (112T910).

Keywords: Durum wheat, Gpc-B1, MAS, Triticum durum, Yr-36

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Authors: Alireza Jafarzadeh, Samad Mosaferi, Mansour Khakpour

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Mastitis is an inflammation of the parenchyma of mammary gland regardless of the causes. Mastitis is characterized by a range of physical and chemical changes in the glandular tissue. The most important change in milk includes discoloration, the presence of clots and large number of leucocytes. There is swelling, heat, pain and edema in mammary gland in many clinical cases. Positive coagulase S. aureus is a major pathogen of the bovine mammary gland and a common cause of contagious mastitis in cattle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outbreaks of Staphylococcus aureus mastitis. This study is conducted in ten dairy herds about one thousand cows. After doing CMT and identifying infected cows, the milk samples obtained from infected teats and transported to microbiological laboratories. After microbial culture of milk samples and isolating S. aureus, antimicrobial, sensitivity test was performed with disk diffusion method by ciprofloxacin, co-amoxiclav, erythromycin, penicillin, oxytetracyclin, sulfonamides, lincomycin and cefquinome. The study defined that the outbreak of subclinical positive coagulase Staphylococcus mastitis in dairy herd was 13.11% (5.6% S. aureus and 7.51% S. intermedicus). The antimicrobial sensitivity test shown that 87.23% of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis in dairy herd was susceptible to ciprofloxacin, 93.9% to cefquinome, 4.67% to co-amoxiclav, 12.16% to erythromycin 86.11% to sulfonamides (co-trimoxazole), 3.35% lincomycin, 12.7% to oxytetracyclin and 5.98% to penicillin. Results of present defined that ciprofloxacin has a great effect on Staphylococcus aureus isolated from subclinical bovine mastitis dairy herd. It seems that cefquinome sulfonamides has a great effect on isolated Staphylococcus aureus in vivo.

Keywords: ciprofloxacin, mastitis, Staphylococcus aureus, dairy herd

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Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Mary L. G. S. Senna, Afonso R. Aquino

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Tourists bring many benefits to a local community, encouraging it to be involved in that activity; however, it may also have detrimental effects like garbage, noise, violence, external culture and the damaging of the natural environment among others, which may promote community dissatisfaction. The contact between the tourist and the local community is a concern, especially when the community is located near protected areas. In this case, the community must know the tourist destination well, so it can collaborate in the tourism development without harming the environment. In this context, the present article aims to demonstrate the results of a research study conducted as part of a doctorate program in Sciences from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It had as an objective to elaborate a methodology proposal to measure the local community satisfaction indicator, with applicability on a case study in the Mateiros community located in the surrounding area of the Parque Estadual do Jalapão –PEJ conservation unit in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. This is a study of an interdisciplinary nature that had the deductive method as its guide. The indicator result is going to be presented in this study. It pointed out as negative factors: there is no involvement between the local community and the tourism sector, and there is also dissatisfaction with regard to the town’s basic services. The study showed as positive the local community knowledge about the various attractions in the surrounding area and that the group recognizes the importance of the tourism for the town and life. Concerning the methodology that was used, the results showed that it can collaborate in seeking actions of improvement and involvement of the community in the planning and development of the local tourism. It comes out as an efficient analysis tool, thus enabling the perceiving of the local community point of view.

Keywords: satisfaction indicator, tourism, community, Jalapão

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Authors: Seema Ahlawat, Parul Saxena, Malik Zainul Abdin

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Malaria is a major health problem in many developing countries. The parasite responsible for the vast majority of fatal malaria infections is Plasmodium falciparum. Unfortunately, most Plasmodium strains including P. falciparum have become resistant to most of the antimalarials including chloroquine, mefloquine, etc. To combat this problem, WHO has recommended the use of artemisinin and its derivatives in artemisinin based combination therapy (ACT). Due to its current use in artemisinin based-combination therapy (ACT), its global demand is increasing continuously. But, the relatively low yield of artemisinin in A. annua L. plants and unavailability of economically viable synthetic protocols are the major bottlenecks for its commercial production and clinical use. Chemical synthesis of artemisinin is also very complex and uneconomical. The hairy root system, using the Agrobacterium rhizogenes LBA 9402 strain to enhance the production of artemisinin in A. annua L., is developed in our laboratory. The transgenic nature of hairy root lines and the copy number of trans gene (rol B) were confirmed using PCR and Southern Blot analyses, respectively. The effect of different concentrations of Piriformospora indica on artemisinin production in hairy root cultures were evaluated. 3% P. indica has resulted 1.97 times increase in artemisinin production in comparison to control cultures. The effects of P. indica on artemisinin production was positively correlated with regulatory genes of MVA, MEP and artemisinin biosynthetic pathways, viz. hmgr, ads, cyp71av1, aldh1, dxs, dxr and dbr2 in hairy root cultures of A. annua L. Mass scale cultivation of A. annua L. hairy roots by plant tissue culture technology may be an alternative route for production of artemisinin. A comprehensive investigation of the hairy root system of A. annua L. would help in developing a viable process for the production of artemisinin. The efficiency of the scaling up systems still needs optimization before industrial exploitation becomes viable.

Keywords: A. annua L., artemisinin, hairy root cultures, malaria

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Authors: Chia-Pei Chen, Yu-Ju Chen, Yu-Juei Hsu

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The prevalence and incidence of end-stage renal disease in Taiwan ranks the highest in the world. According to the statistical survey of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2019, kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death in Taiwan. It leads to autonomic dysfunction, inflammatory response and symptom distress, and further increases the damage to the structure and function of the kidneys, leading to increased demand for renal replacement therapy and risks of cardiovascular disease, which also has medical costs for the society. If we can intervene in a feasible manual to effectively regulate the autonomic nerve function of CKD patients, reduce the inflammatory response and symptom distress. To prolong the progression of the disease, it will be the main goal of caring for CKD patients. This study aims to test the effect of heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVBF) on improving autonomic nerve function (Heart Rate Variability, HRV), inflammatory response (Interleukin-6 [IL-6], C reaction protein [CRP] ), symptom distress (Piper fatigue scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI], and Beck Depression Inventory-II [BDI-II] ) in patients with chronic kidney disease. This study was experimental research, with a convenience sampling. Participants were recruited from the nephrology clinic at a medical center in northern Taiwan. With signed informed consent, participants were randomly assigned to the HRVBF or control group by using the Excel BINOMDIST function. The HRVBF group received four weekly hospital-based HRVBF training, and 8 weeks of home-based self-practice was done with StressEraser. The control group received usual care. We followed all participants for 3 months, in which we repeatedly measured their autonomic nerve function (HRV), inflammatory response (IL-6, CRP), and symptom distress (Piper fatigue scale, PSQI, and BDI-II) on their first day of study participation (baselines), 1 month, and 3 months after the intervention to test the effects of HRVBF. The results were analyzed by SPSS version 23.0 statistical software. The data of demographics, HRV, IL-6, CRP, Piper fatigue scale, PSQI, and BDI-II were analyzed by descriptive statistics. To test for differences between and within groups in all outcome variables, it was used by paired sample t-test, independent sample t-test, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Thirty-four patients with chronic kidney disease were enrolled, but three of them were lost to follow-up. The remaining 31 patients completed the study, including 15 in the HRVBF group and 16 in the control group. The characteristics of the two groups were not significantly different. The four-week hospital-based HRVBF training combined with eight-week home-based self-practice can effectively enhance the parasympathetic nerve performance for patients with chronic kidney disease, which may against the disease-related parasympathetic nerve inhibition. In the inflammatory response, IL-6 and CRP in the HRVBF group could not achieve significant improvement when compared with the control group. Self-reported fatigue and depression significantly decreased in the HRVBF group, but they still failed to achieve a significant difference between the two groups. HRVBF has no significant effect on improving the sleep quality for CKD patients.

Keywords: heart rate variability biofeedback, autonomic nerve function, inflammatory response, symptom distress, chronic kidney disease

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Authors: Karla Cautivo, Thomas Riley, Daniel Knight

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Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalised humans. C. difficile colonises the gastrointestinal tract, causes disease in a variety of animal species and can persist as a spore in diverse environments. Genetic overlap between C. difficile strains from human, animal and environmental sources suggests CDI has a zoonotic or foodborne aetiology. In Australia, C. difficile PCR ribotype RT014 (MLST clade 1) and several ST11 (MLST clade 5) RTs are found commonly in livestock. The high prevalence and diversity of ST11 strains in Australian production animals indicates Australia might be the ancestral home for this lineage. This project describes for the first time the ecology of C. difficile in Australian native animals, providing insights into the prevalence, molecular epidemiology and evolution of C. difficile in this unique environment and a possible role in CDI in humans and animals in Australia. Faecal samples were collected from wild/captive reptiles (n=37), mammals (n=104) and birds (n=102) in Western Australia in 2020/21. Anaerobic enrichment culture was performed, and C. difficile isolates were characterised by PCR ribotyping and toxin gene profiling. Seventy isolates of C. difficile were recovered (prevalence of C. difficile in faecal samples 28%, n=68/243); 27 unique RTs were identified, 5 were novel. The prevalence of C. difficile was similar for reptiles and mammals, 46% (n=17/37) and 43%(n=45/104), respectively, but significantly lower in birds (7.8%, n=8/102; p<0.00001 for both reptiles and mammals). Of the 57 isolates available for typing, RT237 (clade 5) and RT002 (clade 2) were the most prevalent, 15.8% (n=9/57) and 14% (n=8/57), respectively. The high prevalence of C. difficile in reptiles and mammals, particularly clade 5 strains, supported by previous studies of C. difficile in Australian soils, suggest that Australia might be the ancestral home of MLST clade 5.

Keywords: Clostridium difficile, zoonosis, molecular epidemiology, ecology and evolution

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Authors: Hondozi Jahja

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There is an obvious need to learn Arabic language and teach it to other speakers through the new curricula. The idea is to bridge the gap between theory and practice. To that end, we have sought to offer some means of help to master the Arabic language, in addition to our efforts to apply these means, enriching the culture of the student and develop his vocabulary. There is no doubt that taking care of the practical aspect of the grammar was our constant goal, and this particular aspect is what builds the student’s positive values and refine his taste and develop his language. In addressing these issues, we have adopted a school-based approach based primarily on the active and positive participation of the student. The theoretical linguistic issues - in our opinion - are not a primary goal, but the goal is to be used them by students through speaking and applying them. Among the objectives of this research is to establish the basic language skills of the students using new means that help the student to acquire these skills and apply them in various subjects of interest in his progress and development. Unfortunately, some of our students consider the grammar as ‘difficult’, ‘complex’ and ‘heavy’ in itself. This is one of the obstacles that stand in the way of their desired results. As a consequence, they end up talking – mumbling - about the difficulties they face in applying those rules. Therefore, some of our students finish their university studies and are unable to express what they feel using language correctly. For this purpose, we have sought in this research to follow a new integrated approach, which is to study the grammar of the language through modern means of the consolidation of the principle of functional language, and that the rule implies to control tongues and linguistic expressions properly. This research is a result of a practical experience as a teacher of Arabic language for non-native speakers at the ‘Hassan Pristina’ University, located in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo and at the Qatar Training Center since its establishment in 2012.

Keywords: arabic, applied methods, acquire, learning

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Authors: Albina Vodyanitskaya

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Given the culture- and language-specific nature of evaluation, this phenomenon is widely studied around the linguistic world and may be regarded as a challenge for translators. Evaluation penetrates all the levels of a scientific text, influences its composition and the reader’s attitude towards the information presented. One of the most challenging and rarely studied phenomena is the individual style of the scientific writer, which is mostly reflected in the use of evaluative language means. The evaluative and expressive potential of a scientific text is becoming more and more welcoming area for researchers, which stems in the shift towards anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics. Other reasons include: the cognitive and psycholinguistic processes that accompany knowledge acquisition, a genre-determined nature of a scientific text, the increasing public concern about the quality of scientific papers and some such. One more important issue, is the fact that linguists all over the world still argue about the definition of evaluation and its functions in the text. The author analyzes various approaches towards the study of evaluation and scientific texts. A comparative analysis of English and Russian dissertations and other scientific papers with regard to evaluative language means reveals major differences and similarities between English and Russian scientific style. Though standardized and genre-specific, English scientific texts contain more figurative and expressive evaluative means than the Russian ones, which should be taken into account while translating scientific papers. The processes that evaluation undergoes while being expressed by means of a target language are also analyzed. The author offers a target-language-dependent strategy for the translation of evaluation in English and Russian scientific texts. The findings may contribute to the theory and practice of translation and can increase scientific writers’ awareness of inter-language and intercultural differences in evaluative language means.

Keywords: academic discourse, evaluation, scientific text, scientific writing, translation

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Authors: Andrew Nowlan

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During the Coronavirus pandemic, collaborative online international learning (COIL) emerged as an alternative to overseas sojourns. However, now that face-to-face classes have resumed and students are studying abroad, the rationale for doing COIL is not always clear amongst educators and students. Also, the logistics of COIL become increasingly complicated when participants involved in a potential collaboration have different second language (L2) learning goals. In this paper, the researcher will report on a study involving two bilingual, cross-cultural COIL courses between students at a university in Japan and those studying in North America, from April to December, 2022. The students in Japan were enrolled in an intercultural communication class in their L2 of English, while the students in Canada and the United States were studying intermediate Japanese as their L2. Based on a qualitative survey and journaling data received from 31 students in Japan, and employing a transcendental phenomenological research design, the researcher will highlight the students’ essence of experience during COIL. Essentially, students benefited from the experience through improved communicative competences and increased knowledge of the target culture, even when the L2 learning goals between institutions differed. Students also reported that the COIL experience was effective in preparation for actual study abroad, as opposed to a replacement for it, which challenges the existing literature. Both educators and administrators will be exposed to the perceptions of Japanese university students towards COIL, which could be generalized to other higher education contexts, including those in Southeast Asia. Readers will also be exposed to ideas for developing more effective pre-departure study abroad programs and domestic intercultural curriculum through COIL, even when L2 learning goals may differ between participants.

Keywords: collaborative online international learning, study abroad, phenomenology, EdTech, intercultural communication

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Authors: Recep Kesli, Merih Simsek, Cengiz Demir, Onur Turkyilmaz

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Objective: Goal of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated at Medical Microbiology Laboratory of ANS Application and Research Hospital, Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey. Methods: S. aureus strains isolated between October 2012 and September 2016, from various clinical specimens were evaluated retrospectively. S. aureus strains were identified by both the conventional methods and automated identification system -VITEK 2 (bio-Mérieux, Marcy l’etoile, France), and Meticillin resistance was verified using oxacillin disk with disk-diffusion method. Antibiotic resistance testing was performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method according to CLSI criteria, and intermediate susceptible strains were considered as resistant. Results: Seven hundred S.aureus strains which were isolated from various clinical specimens were included in this study. These strains were mostly isolated from blood culture, tissue, wounds and bronchial aspiration. All of 306 (43,7%) were oxacillin resistant. While all the S.aureus strains were found to be susceptible to vancomycin, teicoplanin, daptomycin and linezolid, 38 (9.6 %), 77 (19.5 %), 116 (29.4 %), 152 (38.6 %) and 28 (7.1 %) were found to be resistant aganist to clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, retrospectively. Conclusions: Comparing to the Methicillin sensitive staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) strains, increased resistance rates of, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, and tetracycline were observed among the MRSA strains. In this study, the most effective antibiotic on the total of strains was found to be trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, the least effective antibiotic on the total of strains was found to be tetracycline.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance, MRSA, Staphylococcus aureus, VITEK 2

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Authors: Yifeng Shi, Xingping Wang

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The Soviet Union-style of urban planning has produced a broad and profound influence on China’s urban planning system. The study on extendibility and development experience of Soviet planning in China helps to change the current embarrassing situation 'one-hand planning practice, second-hand planning theory', and also beneficial to facilitate the establishment of China's domestic urban planning theory from the planning source, especially the overseas cooperation parks rich in 'Chinese characteristics'. In practice, as the world’s major infrastructure country, China is exporting to the world especially countries along 'the Belt and Road' a development model featuring cooperation parks as Chinese characteristics. This is of great significance to evaluate and summarize the experiences of Soviet Union-style of planning for China's development objectively and rationally, from removing ideological factors and extracting positive factors to carry them forward in overseas cooperation parks. This article briefly reviews the Soviet influence on urban planning after the founding of China and divided the influences stages into 'guidance, internalization and absorption, selective learning, decline' four periods. The impact includes production-oriented planning and planning concepts continue to be implemented, the establishment of the regional planning, master planning, detailed planning of the basic framework of urban planning, and homogenized cellular structure of the space, as well as planning techniques, professional training, planning techniques and so on. China and even most socialist countries now still carry such planning genes. At present, in the process of implementing 'the Belt and Road' strategy, the planning and construction of China’s overseas cooperation parks generally encounter many problems as lack of strategic planning and systematic planning, lack of top-level design, uncoordinated planning and layout in parks, and redundant construction in some areas. After sublating the planning genes of the Soviet Union-style of urban planning for the development of the socialist countries, especially the industrial planning system, this paper puts forward some views as follows to realize the overseas output and development of China's planning model and technology. Firstly the future development of overseas cooperation park should be from a rational planning point of view. Secondly the government should not only rigidly and equitably allocate the resources of the parks but also closely integrate the national economic plans or economic development strategies. Lastly management department should frame the threshold of development rationally, give full play to the pragmatic planning style in accordance with the local land system and planning system. It has an important guiding and reference role for the development of China's overseas cooperation park under the 'go global' strategy, after objectively evaluating the impact of the Soviet Union-style urban planning and absorbing the beneficial components on China. However, we should also recognize that the cooperation parks and the urban industrial system behind it are only part of urban development. More attention should be payed on the design of the local and the general rules of urban development to take the lead effect of cooperation parks suitable. Foundation item: Under the auspices of the Specific Plan for Strategic International Cooperation in Scientific and Technological Innovation, the National Key Research and Development Plan 'Research Cooperation and Exemplary Application in Planning of Development of Overseas Industrial Parks' (No 2016YFE0201000).

Keywords: China cooperative parks, history of urban planning, output mode, The Soviet Union

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Authors: Samba Lamine Cisse, Cheick Oumar Tangara, Seynabou Sissoko, Mahamadou Diakite, Seydou Doumbia

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Introduction: Over the past two decades, the world has been constantly changing, with new trends in project management. These trends are transforming the methods and priorities of research project management. They include the rise of digital technologies, multidisciplinary, open science, and the pressure for high-impact results. Managers, therefore, find themselves at a crossroads between the challenges and opportunities offered by these new trends. This paper aims to identify the challenges and opportunities they face while proposing strategies for effectively navigating this dynamic context. Methodology: This is a qualitative study based on an analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing the University Clinical Research Center in terms of new technologies and project management methods. This blended approach provides an overview of emerging trends and practices. Results: This article shows how research managers can turn new research trends in their favor and how they can adapt to the changes they face to optimize the productivity of research teams while ensuring the quality and ethics of the work. It also explores the importance of developing skills in data management, international collaboration, and innovation management. Finally, it proposes strategies for responding effectively to the challenges posed by these new trends while strengthening the position of research managers as essential facilitators of scientific progress. Conclusion: Navigating this changing landscape requires research managers to be highly flexible and able to anticipate the realities of their institution. By adopting modern project management methodologies and cultivating a culture of innovation, they can turn challenges into opportunities and propel research toward new horizons. This paper provides a strategic framework for overcoming current obstacles and capitalizing on future developments in research.

Keywords: new trends, research management, opportunities, challenges

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Authors: Leila Fozouni, Anahita Mazandarani

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Background: Maternal infections are the most common cause of infections in infants, and the level of infection and its severity highly depends on the degree of colonization of the bacteria in the mother; so, the occurrence of aggressive diseases is not unpredictable in mothers with very high colonization. Group B Streptococcus is part of the normal flora of the gastrointestinal and genital tracts in women and is the leading cause of septicemia and meningitis in newborns. Today Zinc oxide nanoparticle is regarded as one of the most commonly used and safest nanoparticles for defeating Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This study aims to determine the antibacterial effects of Zinc oxide on the growth of drug-resistant group B Streptococcus strains isolated from pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 pregnant women of 28–37 weeks admitted to seven hospitals and maternity wards in Golestan province, northeast of Iran. For bacterial identification, rectovaginal swabs were firstly inoculated to the Todd-Hewitt Broth and cultured in blood agar (containing 5% sheep blood). Then microbiologic and PCR methods were performed to detect group B Streptococci. Disk diffusion and broth microdilution tests were used to determine the bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics according to CLSI M100(2021) criteria. The antibacterial properties of Zinc oxide nanoparticles were evaluated using the agar well-diffusion method. Results: The prevalence of group B Streptococcus was 18% in pregnant women. Out of twenty-seven positive cultures, 62.96% were higher than thirty years old. Ninety percent and 45% of isolates were resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin, respectively, and susceptibility to cefazolin was 71%. In addition, susceptibility to ampicillin and penicillin were 74% and 55%, respectively. The results showed that 82% of erythromycin-resistant, 92% clindamycin-resistant, and 78% of cefazolin-resistant isolates were eliminated by zinc oxide nanoparticles at a concentration of 100 mg/L of the nanoparticle. Furthermore, ZnONPs could inhibit all drug-resistant isolates at a concentration of 200 mg/mL (MIC90 ≥ 200). Conclusion: Since the drug resistance of group B streptococci against various antibiotics is increasing, determining and investigating the drug-resistance pattern of this bacterium to different antibiotics in order to prevent arbitrary consumption of antibiotics by pregnant women and ultimately prevent Infant mortality seems necessary. Generally, ZnONPs showed a high antimicrobial effect, and it was revealed that the bactericide effect increases upon the increase in the concentration of the nanoparticle.

Keywords: group B beta-hemolytic streptococcus, pregnant women, zinc oxide nanoparticles, drug resistance

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Authors: Clare Victoria Martin

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With reports of increased mental health problems and a lack of proactive, consistent well-being initiatives, well-being is a topical issue in the workplace, as well as a wider public health concern. Additionally, workplace well-being is closely linked to performance, both from a business perspective and in psychological research. Businesses are therefore becoming increasingly motivated to promote well-being, yet there are still barriers, including a lack of evidence-based workplace interventions, issues with measuring effectiveness and problems creating lasting cultural change. This review aimed to collate workplace well-being research to propose a comprehensive new model for delivering evidence-based workplace well-being training with a real potential for lasting impact. Method: A narrative review was conducted to meta-synthesise relevant research. Thematic analysis was then adopted as a systematic method of identifying key themes from the review to lead to practical recommendations. Interventions focusing on strengths, psychological capital, mindfulness and positivity (SPMP) dominated the research in this area, suggesting benefits of incorporating all four into training. However, to avoid a ‘quick fix’ mentality, the concept of training ‘well-being ambassadors’ as a preventative counterpart to mental health ‘first aiders’ was proposed alongside a new ‘REST and RISE’ model: well-being interventions should be ‘relatable’, ‘enjoyable’, ‘sociable’ and ‘trackable’ (REST) in order to increase ‘resilience’, ‘innovation’, ‘strengths’ and ‘engagement’ (RISE). If the REST principles are applied to interventions focusing on SPMP, research suggests individuals will RISE. Future research should empirically test this new well-being ambassador programme and REST/RISE model in an applied setting.

Keywords: performance, positive psychology, thriving, workplace well-being

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Authors: B. D. Ravindra, A. K. Tyagi, C. Kathirvelan

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Some micronutrients in food (milk and meat), called ‘functional food components’ exert beneficial effects other than their routine nutrient function and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is an unsaturated fatty acid of ruminant origin, an example of this category. However, recently the fear of hypercholesterolemia due to saturated fats has led to the avoidance of dietary fat especially of animal origin despite its advantages such as lowering blood cholesterol, immuno-modulation and anticarcinogenic property due to the presence of CLA. The dietary increase of linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LNA) is one of the feeding strategies for increasing the CLA concentration in milk. Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens is the one potential rumen bacteria, which has high potential to isomerize LA to CLA. The study was conducted to screen the different oils for CLA production, selected based on their LA concentration. Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens culture (strain 49, MZ3, 30/10) were isolated from the rumen liquor of fistulated Buffalo (age ≈ 3 years; weight ≈ 250 kg) were used in in-vitro experiments, further work was carried out with three oils viz., sunflower, mustard and soybean oil at different concentration (0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 g/L of media) to study the growth of bacteria and CLA production at different incubation period (0, 8, 12, 18, 24, 48, 72 h). In the present study, growth of the bacteria was decreased linearly with increase in concentration of three oils. However, highest decrease in growth was recorded at the concentration of 0.30 g of three oils per litre of the media. Highest CLA production was 51.96, 42.08 and 25.60 µg/ml at 0.25 g and it decreased to 48.19, 39.35 and 23.41 µg/ml at 0.3 g supplementation of sunflower, soybean, and mustard oil per litre of the media, respectively at 18 h incubation period. The present study indicates the Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens bacteria involves in the biohydrogenation process, and LA rich sunflower meal can be used to improve the CLA production in rumen and thereby increasing the CLA concentration of milk.

Keywords: Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, CLA, fatty acids, sunflower oil

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Authors: Lay Poh Tan, Chor Yong Tay, Haiyang Yu

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Micro-contact printing is a form of soft lithography that uses the relief patterns on a master polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp to form patterns of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of ink on the surface of a substrate through conformal contact technique. Here, we adopt this method to print proteins of different dimensions on our biodegradable polymer substrates. We started off with printing 20-500 μm scale lanes of fibronectin to engineer the shape of bone marrow derived human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSCs). After 8 hours of culture, the hMSCs adopted elongated shapes, and upon analysis of the gene expressions, genes commonly associated with myogenesis (GATA-4, MyoD1, cTnT and β-MHC) and neurogenesis (NeuroD, Nestin, GFAP, and MAP2) were up-regulated but gene expression associated to osteogenesis (ALPL, RUNX2, and SPARC) were either down modulated or remained at the nominal level. This is the first evidence that cellular morphology control via micropatterning could be used to modulate stem cell fate without external biochemical stimuli. We further our studies to modulate the focal adhesion (FA) instead of the macro shape of cells. Micro-contact printed islands of different smaller dimensions were investigated. We successfully regulated the FAs into dense FAs and elongated FAs by micropatterning. Additionally, the combined effects of hard (40.4 kPa), and intermediate (10.6 kPa) PA gel and FAs patterning on hMSCs differentiation were studied. Results showed that FA and matrix compliance plays an important role in hMSCs differentiation, and there is a cross-talk between different physical stimulants and the significance of these stimuli can only be realized if they are combined at the optimum level.

Keywords: micro-contact printing, polymer substrate, cell-material interaction, stem cell differentiation

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Authors: Mengxin Feng, Feng Xu, Zhiyong Lai

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As a typical representative of the countryside, traditional Chinese villages are rich in cultural landscape resources and historical information, but they are still in continuous decline. The problems of people's weak protection awareness and low cultural recognition are still serious, and the protection of cultural heritage is imminent. At the same time, with the rapid development of rural tourism, its cultural value has been explored and paid attention to again. From the perspective of tourists, this study aimed to explore people's perception and identity of cultural landscape resources under the current cultural tourism development background. We selected eleven typical landscape elements of Lingshui Village, a traditional village in Beijing, as research objects and conducted a questionnaire survey with two scales of perception and identity to explore the characteristics of people's perception and identification of landscape elements. We found that there was a strong positive correlation between the perception and identity of each element and that geographical location influenced visitors' overall perception. The perception dimensions scored the highest in location, and the lowest in history and culture, and the identity dimensions scored the highest in meaning and lowest in emotion. We analyzed the impact of visitors' backgrounds on people's perception and identity characteristics and found that age and education were two important factors. The elderly had a higher degree of perceived identity, as the familiarity effect increased their attention. Highly educated tourists had more stringent criteria for perception and identification. The above findings suggest strategies for conserving and optimizing landscape elements in the traditional village to improve the acceptance and recognition of cultural information in traditional villages, which will inject new vitality into the development of traditional villages.

Keywords: traditional village, tourist perception, landscape elements, perception and identity

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Authors: Natalia Podkhodova, Olga Sheremeteva, Mariia Soldaeva

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Creating favorable conditions for students’ comprehension of mathematical content is one of the primary problems in teaching mathematics in secondary school. Psychology research has demonstrated that positive comprehension becomes possible when new information becomes part of student’s subjective experience and when linkages between the attributes of notions and various ways of their presentations can be established. The fact of comprehension includes the ability to build a working situational model and thus becomes an important means of solving mathematical problems. The article describes the implementation of a holistic approach to teaching mathematics designed to address the primary challenges of such teaching, specifically, the challenge of students’ comprehension. This approach consists of (1) establishing links between the attributes of a notion: the sense, the meaning, and the term; (2) taking into account the components of student’s subjective experience -emotional and value, contextual, procedural, communicative- during the educational process; (3) links between different ways to present mathematical information; (4) identifying and leveraging the relationships between real, perceptual and conceptual (scientific) mathematical spaces by applying real-life situational modeling. The article describes approaches to the practical use of these foundational concepts. Identifying how proposed methods and technology influence understanding of material used in teaching mathematics was the research’s primary goal. The research included an experiment in which 256 secondary school students took part: 142 in the experimental group and 114 in the control group. All students in these groups had similar levels of achievement in math and studied math under the same curriculum. In the course of the experiment, comprehension of two topics -'Derivative' and 'Trigonometric functions'- was evaluated. Control group participants were taught using traditional methods. Students in the experimental group were taught using the holistic method: under the teacher’s guidance, they carried out problems designed to establish linkages between notion’s characteristics, to convert information from one mode of presentation to another, as well as problems that required the ability to operate with all modes of presentation. The use of the technology that forms inter-subject notions based on linkages between perceptional, real, and conceptual mathematical spaces proved to be of special interest to the students. Results of the experiment were analyzed by presenting students in each of the groups with a final test in each of the studied topics. The test included problems that required building real situational models. Statistical analysis was used to aggregate test results. Pierson criterion was used to reveal the statistical significance of results (pass-fail the modeling test). A significant difference in results was revealed (p < 0.001), which allowed the authors to conclude that students in the study group showed better comprehension of mathematical information than those in the control group. Also, it was revealed (used Student’s t-test) that the students of the experimental group performed reliably (p = 0.0001) more problems in comparison with those in the control group. The results obtained allow us to conclude that increasing comprehension and assimilation of study material took place as a result of applying implemented methods and techniques.

Keywords: comprehension of mathematical content, holistic approach to teaching mathematics in secondary school, subjective experience, technology of the formation of inter-subject notions

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