Search results for: social confidence

Authors: Abubakar Samaila

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Pastoralism has been an old practice in the Sahel region of west Africa. In recent years, pastoralists in Nigeria have increasingly been migrating on seasonal transhumance southward from the neighboring countries, especially Niger Republic, in search of better grazing conditions due to mainly, climate change. This has increased pressure on farm lands which instigate farmer-herder conflicts. These conflicts occur mainly between farmers and pastoralists but also between pastoralist groups themselves. However, there has been a shift in these conflicts recently to involve traditional institutions and, in some cases, the local authorities along the borderlands. The involvement of local institutions in the conflict has created an incentive to local actors, particularly pastoralcommunity-based groups, in responding to these violent threats. As pastoralists are mobile, these conflicts became difficult to contain and, thus, spill across borders. Consequently, the conflict has now transformed into an urbanized regional conflicts that involve some major cities along the Nigeria-Niger borderlands; Sokoto, Zamfara, and Katsina on the Nigerian side andDosso, Tahoa andMaradi in Niger republic. These areas are now experiencing unprecedented growing wave of violence that have become complex and escalates into a hydra-social conflict. The aim of this research is to investigate how the fluidities of Nigeria-Niger borderland intensified armed conflicts between the local pastoral organizations and sedentary populationspreading to some urban cities along the borderlands. The paper further suggests alternative approaches towards addressing the perennial crisis in African borderlands.

Keywords: pastoralism, climate change, conflict, nigeria, niger, borderlands

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Authors: Kyung Bae Park, Sung Ho Ha

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Online user-generated contents (UGC) significantly change the way customers behave (e.g., shop, travel), and a pressing need to handle the overwhelmingly plethora amount of various UGC is one of the paramount issues for management. However, a current approach (e.g., sentiment analysis) is often ineffective for leveraging textual information to detect the problems or issues that a certain management suffers from. In this paper, we employ text mining of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) on a popular online review site dedicated to complaint from users. We find that the employed LDA efficiently detects customer complaints, and a further inspection with the visualization technique is effective to categorize the problems or issues. As such, management can identify the issues at stake and prioritize them accordingly in a timely manner given the limited amount of resources. The findings provide managerial insights into how analytics on social media can help maintain and improve their reputation management. Our interdisciplinary approach also highlights several insights by applying machine learning techniques in marketing research domain. On a broader technical note, this paper illustrates the details of how to implement LDA in R program from a beginning (data collection in R) to an end (LDA analysis in R) since the instruction is still largely undocumented. In this regard, it will help lower the boundary for interdisciplinary researcher to conduct related research.

Keywords: latent dirichlet allocation, R program, text mining, topic model, user generated contents, visualization

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Authors: Fella Lahmar

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This chapter investigates the educational reforms in Algeria, highlighting the challenges and complexities that arise in the context of globalization, equity, and decolonization. While Algeria’s education system historically had a socialist-economic model grounded in Islamic values, contemporary reforms reflect global influences and aspirations for cultural authenticity. The study employed a qualitative approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of 15 participants intimately involved in the Algerian education system. Analysis of the data reveals a discrepancy between the educational system’s pedagogical practices and students’ diverse learning needs, implying ramifications for educational equity and social justice. Furthermore, a critical tension was evident between global influences, local cultural authenticity, and the endeavor to decolonize education. In conclusion, the chapter advocates for reforms that prioritize the students’ holistic development and well-being while fostering intrinsic motivation and engagement. This entails re-evaluating curriculum frameworks, assessment strategies, and pedagogies in light of Algeria’s cultural and religious heritage. The chapter also calls for future research to explore methods for innovatively integrating cultural heritage into education in ways to cultivate learners who are both locally grounded and globally aware.

Keywords: impact of globalization on education, parental involvement in education, marketization of education, policy enactment and reform, curriculum overload, holistic approach, shadow education

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Authors: Seshi Reddy Kasu, Florian Misoc

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The use of hydroelectric pump-storage system at large scale, MW-size systems, is already widespread around the world. Designed for large scale applications, pump-storage station can be scaled-down for small, remote residential applications. Given the cost and complexity associated with installing a substation further than 100 miles from the main transmission lines, a remote, independent and self-sufficient system is by far the most feasible solution. This article is aiming at the design of wind and solar power generating system, by means of pumped-storage to replace the wind and/or solar power systems with a battery bank energy storage. Wind and solar pumped-storage power generating system can reduce the cost of power generation system, according to the user's electricity load and resource condition and also can ensure system reliability of power supply. Wind and solar pumped-storage power generation system is well suited for remote residential applications with intermittent wind and/or solar energy. This type of power systems, installed in these locations, could be a very good alternative, with economic benefits and positive social effects. The advantage of pumped storage power system, where wind power regulation is calculated, shows that a significant smoothing of the produced power is obtained, resulting in a power-on-demand system’s capability, concomitant to extra economic benefits.

Keywords: battery bank, photo-voltaic, pump-storage, wind energy

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Authors: Sunday Sedodo Nupo, Clara Berstien Oguntona, Babatunde Oguntona, Oluseyi Akinloye, P. A. Olunusi Adeboye

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Cardiovascular diseases are now becoming dominant sources of morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study investigated the lipid profile of civil servants. A cross-sectional study was carried out among randomly selected 202 male and 298 female civil servants in Abeokuta Ogun state. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on history of non-communicable diseases and physical activity pattern of the respondents. The blood pressures of the subjects were measured and classified using World Health Organization criteria. The total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Ethical approval was obtained from Ogun State Ministry of Health. Data collected were analysed using Statistical package for social science version 17.1. Results showed that majority (76%) of the subjects were within the age range of 20 - 40 years, 75% earned between N58,500 - N98,000 monthly and 68% were sedentary. The mean energy intake of men and women were 3942±38 kcal and 2791±3 kcal respectively, while the protein intake for men was 65±49 g/day and 54.28±40 g/day for women. Desirable TC level (<200 mg/dl) was found in 80% of the selected subjects while the normal TG (<150 mg/dl) and LDL (<129 mg/dl) was found in 95% and 90% subjects respectively. The mean TC was 78.91±11 mg/dl and 62.69±9 mg/dl in men and women respectively. The study showed that most of the subjects had normal lipid in terms of serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.

Keywords: high density lipoprotein, morbidity, mortality, triglycerides

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Authors: Deepak Suresh Mohale, Anil V. Chandewar

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Anxiety is defined as an exaggerated feeling of apprehension, uncertainty and fear. Nerium indicum is a well-known ornamental and medicinal plant belonging to the family Apocynaceae. A wide spectrum of biological activities has been reported with various constituents isolated from different parts of the plant. This study was conducted to investigate antianxiety activity of flower extract. Flowers were collected and dried in shade and coarsely powdered. Powdered mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate by maceration process. Extract of flowers obtained was subsequently dried in oven at 40-50 °C. This extract is then tested for antianxiety activity at low and high dose using elevated plus maze and light & dark model. Rats shown increased open arm entries and time spent in open arm in elevated Plus maze with treatment low and high dose of extract of Nerium indicum flower as compared to their respective control groups. In Light & dark Model, light box entries and time spent in light box increased with treatment low and high dose of extract of Nerium indicum flower as compared to their respective control groups. From result it is concluded that ethyl acetate extract of flower of Nerium indicum possess antianxiety activity at low and high dose.

Keywords: antianxiety, anxiety, kaner, nerium indicum, social isolation

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Authors: Eva Tolmeijer, Emmanuelle Peters, Veena Kumari, Liam Mason

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Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp) is effective in many but not all patients, making it important to better understand the factors that determine treatment outcomes. To date, no studies have examined whether neuroimaging can make clinically useful predictions about who will respond to CBTp. To this end, we used machine learning methods that make predictions about symptom improvement at the individual patient level. Prior to receiving CBTp, 22 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia completed a social-affective processing task during functional MRI. Multivariate pattern analysis assessed whether treatment response could be predicted by brain activation responses to facial affect that was either socially threatening or prosocial. The resulting models did significantly predict symptom improvement, with distinct multivariate signatures predicting psychotic (r=0.54, p=0.01) and affective (r=0.32, p=0.05) symptoms. Psychotic symptom improvement was accurately predicted from relatively focal threat-related activation across hippocampal, occipital, and temporal regions; affective symptom improvement was predicted by a more dispersed profile of responses to prosocial affect. These findings enrich our understanding of the neurobiological underpinning of treatment response. This study provides a foundation that will hopefully lead to greater precision and tailoring of the interventions offered to patients.

Keywords: cognitive behavioral therapy, machine learning, psychosis, schizophrenia

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Authors: Mahdi Momeni

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The arrival of Mysticism to the subcontinent can be generally divided into two periods. The first period, was the Sporadic arrival of Sufis whom were traveling to the subcontinent according to the tradition of disquisition and the second period was; when the Sufi dynasties were sending missionaries and caliphs to guide and promote people from different direction to that land. Among the Sufi dynasty that entered to India in the thirteenth century, two dynasties of Chishti and Suhrawardîya were more successful than other Sufi dynasties. And thus they are very important in the spread of Islam and Mysticism to the subcontinent. Suhrawardiyya dynasty was founded by Sheikh Ziauddin Abu Najib Suhrawardi and was developed and spread by his nephew Sheikh Shahabuddin Suhrawardi Abo hafs Omar. Sheikh Shahabuddin sent many Caliphs and missionaries to India. Among these missionaries were People like Sultan Sakhi Sarwar, Seyyed Noureddin Mobarak Ghaznavi, Sheikh Jalal al-din Tabrizi and Sheikh Zakariya Multani. Since Suhrawardiyya doctrine relies on Asceticism and Sharia, so one of the important elements among Suhrawardiyya missionaries was inviting people to Islam. Accordingly Sheikh Shahab Caliphs had a great role in the spread of Islam and Mysticism in different territories, especially India. Such that it can be pointed out is the the role of Sheikh Baha-ud-din Zakariya Multani, the founder of Suhrawardiyya Dynasty in India. Sheikh Zakaria Multani after working in three areas, establishing monasteries, training managers, having numerous trips to different places, participating to social affairs provided the spread of Islam and Mysticism in subcontinent. This paper studies his role and actions in the subcontinent.

Keywords: islam, sufism, Suhrawardiyya, subcontinent, Multan

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Authors: Mohammad Saeri, Zainal Arifin

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The purpose of this study is to obtain information on technical and social-economic feasibility of sugarcane-soybean. To achieve these objectives, soybeans intercropping study was conducted in sugar cane crops. This assessment was conducted in two locations with different agroecosystem,ie lowland of low plain in Mojokerto, East Java, with altitude of 50m above sea level and upland of medium plain in Malang, East Javawithaltitude of 500 m above the sea level. The design used was Split plot, with the main plots, is the soybean varieties, consisting of: (a) Anjasmoro, (b) Argomulyo, and (c) Dena-1, while the subplot is bio-fertilizer, consisting of : (1) Agrimeth, (2) Agrisoy, and (3) Biovarm. The variables observed were growth, yield and yield components and economic analysis. The yield of soybean in lowland reached 0.74 t/ha of seeds with farm profit of Indonesian Rupiah 359.200. This result is relatively low due to the delay of soybean cultivation from sugar cane soup time so that sugar cane cover soybean cultivation, while in upland obtained 0.92t/ha seeds with farm profit of Indonesian Rupiah 2,015,000. Therefore, it is suggested that soybeans are planted immediately after ratoon cane so that soybean growth can be optimal before the growth of sugarcane cover the soil surface. The yield of sugar cane in the lowland reached 124.5 tons with a profit of Indonesian Rupiah. 21,200,000,- while in upland obtained by sugarcane yield equal to 78,5 ton with profit equal to Indonesian Rupiah 8,900,000,-.

Keywords: intercropping, sugar cane, soybean, profit, farming

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Authors: Roy Hanney

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This research study aims to develop an evidential basis to inform strategic development of the film industry in the Solent (south central) region of the UK. The density of the creative industries around the region is driving the growth of jobs. Yet, film production in particular, appears to struggle with field configuration, lacks ecological cohesion, and suffers from underdeveloped ecosystems when compared to other areas bordering the region. Though thriving, a lack of coordinated leadership results in the continued reproduction of an ill-configured, constricted and socio-economically filtered workforce. One that struggles to seize strategic opportunities arising as a consequence of the ongoing investment in UK film production around the west of London. Taking a participatory approach, the study seeks to avoid the universalism of place marketing and focus on the situatedness of the region and its specific cultural, social, and economic contexts. The staging of a series of high profile networking events provided a much needed field configuring activity and enabled the capture of voices of those currently working in the sector. It will also provided the opportunity for an exploratory network mapping of the regional creative industries as a value exchange ecosystem. It is understood that a focus on production is not in itself a solution to the challenges faced in the region. There is a need to address issues of access as a counterbalance to skewed representation among the creative workforces thus the study also aims to report on opportunities for embedding diversity and inclusion in any strategic solutions.

Keywords: creative, industries, ecosystem, ecology

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Authors: Marie-Therese Claes, Anett Hermann

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With the advent of the web and information technology since the end of the 20ᵗʰ century, digitalization has revolutionized our everyday life, from shopping and dating to education and transportation. The world of work is one of the areas that has been highly transformed by changing the time and spatial limits of the work. The expansion of the internet, wireless, and easily portable devices such as laptop computers and mobile phones has enabled us to work almost from any place at any time. As a result, telework, which started in the 1950s and elevated in the 1970s, steeply raised to a new level in 21ˢᵗ century. Telework consists of various forms of work done from outside the traditional workplace by using information technologies. The social distancing and lockdown measures that have been taken to reduce the spread of the virus in many countries worldwide resulted in an increasing number of teleworkers and made “working from home’’ synonymous with telework. Post-COVID-19, the number of teleworkers is still higher than before the pandemic period, and the interest in expanding teleworking has been growing too. Notwithstanding the advantages ushered by telework, it also has a number of drawbacks that negatively affect organizations and employees. The intention of this piece of work is not to indicate a causational relationship between telework and discrimination. Our aim is to indicate some unintended and/or unnoticed deleterious effects of telework in reinforcing discrimination and to instigate discussion on how to mitigate the effects. To do so, this insight indicates how telework reinforces traditional gender roles and how organizational culture towards telework and its access to employees at different levels of the organizational hierarchy opens the room for discrimination.

Keywords: mobile work, discrimination, gender roles, organizational culture

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Authors: Feng Zisu

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Community is the basic unit of the city, community pedestrian space is also an important part of the urban public space, and its quality improvement is also closely related to the residents' happiness and sense of belonging. Domestic and international research perspectives on community pedestrian space have gradually changed to inclusive design for the whole population, paying more attention to the equitable accessibility of urban space and the multiple composite enhancement of spatial connotation. In order to realize the inclusive and sustainable development of pedestrian space in old communities, this article selects Cao Yang New Village in Shanghai as a practice case, and based on the connotation of inclusiveness, the four dimensions of space, traffic, function and emotion are selected as the layers of inclusive connotation of pedestrian space in old communities. This article identifies the objective social needs, dynamic activity characteristics and subjective feelings of multiple subjects, and reconstructs the structural hierarchy of “spatial perception - behavioral characteristics - subjective feelings” of walking. It also proposes a governance strategy of “reconfiguring the pedestrian network, optimizing street quality, integrating ecological space and reshaping the community scene” from the aspects of quality of physical environment and quality of behavioral perception, aiming to provide new ideas for promoting the inclusive and sustainable development of pedestrian space in old communities.

Keywords: inclusivity, old community, pedestrian space, spatial quality, sustainable renovation

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Authors: Chris Ogwu Attah, Okpanachi Linus Odiji

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An election is no doubt a universally accepted means of resolving societal problems, particularly those with political connotations. While the process has often been conducted in advanced democracies without attacks on opponents and the populace, that ambiance of political tranquillity has hardly been enjoyed in many African states. While the violent nature of polls on this part of the globe have for long been linked among other things to monetization and the zero-sum character of politics, emerging trends show how the increasing rate of electoral violence may not be unconnected to the broadcasts of violent acts in the media. Anchored on the age-long complaints about the possible deleterious effects of mass media and Plato’s concern about the effects of plays on the youth, this study aims to interrogate the relationship between media and electoral violence in Nigeria using Kogi State as a case study. While the Social Cognitive Theory is adopted to guide the study to fruition, data was elicited primarily from a multi-stage sampling arrangement in which respondents from three purposively selected locations (Anyigba, Lokoja, and Okene) were randomly selected. Using chi-square to test the assumption that media violence catalyzes electoral violence in Kogi State, it was discovered among other revelations that electoral violence increases numerically with the depiction of violence in the media. As a recommendation, therefore, this paper advocate that Civil Society Organisations, as well as relevant governmental agencies, should carry out mass political education which aims at instilling political morals on the populace, especially the youths.

Keywords: electoral violence, media, media violence, violence

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Authors: Mohammadreza Mojtahedi

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Urban agriculture, in the face of burgeoning urban populations and unchecked urbanization, presents a promising avenue for sustainable economic, social, and environmental growth. This study, set against the backdrop of Neishabour, Iran, delves into the potential and challenges inherent in this domain. Utilizing a descriptive-analytical approach, field survey data were predominantly collated via questionnaires. The research rigor was upheld with the Delphi method affirming the validity and a Cronbach's alpha score exceeding 0.70, underscoring reliability. The study encompassed Neishabour's 2016 populace, pegged at 264,375, drawing a sample size of 384 via Cochran's formula. The findings spotlight Neishabour's pronounced agricultural prowess, as evidenced by a significance level under 0.05 and an average difference of 0.54. Engaging in urban agricultural ventures can notably elevate job quality, spur savings, bolster profitability, promote organic cultivation, and streamline production expenses. However, challenges, such as heightened land valuations for alternative uses, conflicting land engagements, security dilemmas, technical impediments, waning citizen interest, regulatory conundrums, and perceived upfront investment risks, were identified. A silver lining emerged with urban locales, especially streets and boulevards, securing average ratings of 3.90, marking them as prime contenders for urban agricultural endeavors.

Keywords: urban agriculture, sustainable development, mid-sized cities, neishabour.

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Authors: Nazli Hardy

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Multidisciplinary application of computer science, interactive database-driven web application, the Internet of Things (IoT) represents a digital ecosystem that has pervasive technological, social, and economic, impact on the human population. It is a long-term technology, and its development is built around the connection of everyday objects, to the Internet. It is estimated that by 2020, with billions of people connected to the Internet, the number of connected devices will exceed 50 billion, and thus IoT represents a paradigm shift in in our current interconnected ecosystem, a communication shift that will unavoidably affect people, businesses, consumers, clients, employees. By nature, in order to provide a cohesive and integrated service, connected devices need to collect, aggregate, store, mine, process personal and personalized data on individuals and corporations in a variety of contexts and environments. A significant factor in this paradigm shift is the necessity for secure and appropriate transmission, processing and storage of the data. Thus, while benefits of the applications appear to be boundless, these same opportunities are bounded by concerns such as trust, privacy, security, loss of control, and related issues. This poster and presentation look at a multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms that need to change from the login-password tuple to an Identity and Access Management (IAM) model, to the more cohesive to Identity Relationship Management (IRM) standard. It also compares and contrasts messaging protocols that are appropriate for the IoT ecosystem.

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT), authentication, protocols, survey

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Authors: Majeed Mohammed Midhin, Clare Finburgh

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To maintain a healthy balanced loyalty between art and politics posits a debatable issue. The artist is always on the look out for the potential tension between those two realms. Therefore, one of the most painful dilemmas the artist finds is how to function in a society without sacrificing the aesthetic values of his/her work. In other words, the life-long awareness of failure which derives from the concept of the artist as caught between unflattering social realities and the need to invent genuine art forms becomes a fertilizing soil for the artists to dig deep into its origin. Thus, within the framework of this dilemma, the question of the responsibility of the artist and the relationship of the art to politics will be illuminating. The present paper tackles the idea of the amorality of the artist in selected plays by Tom Stoppard. However, Stoppard’s awareness of his situation as a refugee has led him to keep at a distance from politics. He tried hard to avoid any intervention into the realms of political debate, especially in his earliest work. On the one hand, it is not meant that he did not interest in politics as such, but rather he preferred to question it than to create a fixed ideological position. On the other hand, Stoppard’s refusal to intervene in politics is ascribed to his feeling of gratitude to Britain where he settled. As a result, Stoppard has frequently been criticized for a lack of political engagement and also for not leaning too much for the left when he does engage. His reaction to these public criticisms finds expression in his self-conscious statements which defensively stressed the artifice of his work. He, like Oscar Wilde thinks that the responsibility of the artist is devoted to the realm of his/her art. Consequently, his consciousness for the role of the artist is truly reflected in his two plays, Artist Descending a Staircase(1972) and Travesties(1974).

Keywords: amorality, dilemma, aesthetic, responsibility of the artist, political theatre

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Authors: Alexander Scott English, Yilin Ma, Xiaoying Liu

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The widespread use of artificial intelligence in everyday life has triggered a fervent discussion covering a wide range of areas. However, to date, research on the influence of gender in various segments and factors from a social science perspective is still limited. This study aims to explore whether there are gender differences in human trust in AI for its application in basic everyday life and correlates with human perceived similarity, perceived emotions (including competence and warmth), and attractiveness. We conducted a study involving 321 participants using a two-subject experimental design with a two-factor (masculinized vs. feminized voice of the AI) multiplied by a two-factor (pitch level of the AI's voice) between-subject experimental design. Four contexts were created for the study and randomly assigned. The results of the study showed significant gender differences in perceived similarity, trust, and perceived emotion of the AIs, with females rating them significantly higher than males. Trust was higher in relation to AIs presenting the same gender (e.g., human female to female AI, human male to male AI). Mediation modeling tests indicated that emotion perception and similarity played a sufficiently mediating role in trust. Notably, although trust in AIs was strongly correlated with human gender, there was no significant effect on the gender of the AI. In addition, the study discusses the effects of subjects' age, job search experience, and job type on the findings.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, gender differences, human-robot trust, mediation modeling

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Authors: Sanam Mujahid, Aliza Ahmad

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Women education and empowerment has fundamental importance in the development of a civilized society however, in a developing country like Pakistan, there are serious challenges in this regard. Herein, we summarize the findings of 2012 study which revealed the key problems associated with women education and their proposed solutions. A survey tool was used to question female students and female faculty members in 20 different public sector universities of all four provinces of Pakistan. In this study, 1755 female students and 410 female faculty members responded. In addition to survey, semi-structured interview were also conducted with 25 female students and 10 female faculty members. Respondents of the survey emphasize the lack of adequate educational institutions in nearby vicinity, social exclusion including gender discrimination, shortage of female teachers, lack of resources and inefficient government policies are the major factors that influence female education. To solve these problems, the main recommendations by respondents include safe and secure learning environment for females in educational institutions, community and parental support, well qualified and sufficient number of female teachers. One of the most important proposals was the participation of females at policy level. Current study will provide a general layout to design the future educational strategies for promoting women education in all regions of Pakistan thus, developing towards modern educated society.

Keywords: women education, education strategies, developing countries, Pakistan

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Authors: German Marino Rivera

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Linear plantations are a common practice in several countries as living fences (LF) delimiting agroecosystems. They are composed of multipurpose perennial woods that provide assets, protection, and supply services. However, not much is known in some traditional communities like the Andean region, including the species composition and the social and ecological benefits of the species used. In the High Andean Colombian region, LF seems to be very typical and diverse. This study aimed to analyze the traditional knowledge about LF systems, including the species composition and their uses in rural communities of Alto Casanare, Colombia. Field measurements, interviews, guided tours, and species sampling were carried out in order to describe traditional practices and the species used in the LF systems. The use values were estimated through the Coefficient of Importance of the Species (CIS). A total of 26 farms engage in LF practices, covering an area of 9283.3 m. In these systems, 30 species were identified, belonging to 23 families. Alnus acuminata was the specie with the highest CIS. The species presented multipurpose uses for both economic and ecological purposes. The transmission of knowledge (TEK) about the used species is very heterogeneous among the farmers. Many species used were not documented, with reciprocal gaps between the literature and traditional species uses. Exchanging this information would increase the species' versatility, the socioeconomic aspects of these communities, increases the agrobiodiversity and ecological services provided by LF. The description of the TEK on LF provides a better understanding of the relationship of these communities with the natural resources, pointing out creative approaches to achieve local environment conservation in these agroecosystems and promoting socioeconomic development.

Keywords: ethnobotany, living fences, traditional communities, agroecology

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Authors: Radek Richtr, Petr Paus

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The connection to the primal environment, living and growing nature is disappearing for most of the residents in urban core areas nowadays. Most of the residents perceive scattered green mass like more technical objects than sentient living organisms. The Arboretum is a type of application from the 'serious games' genre -it is a research experiment masked as a gaming environment. In used virtual and augmented reality environments, every city district is represented by central objects; Pillars created as a result of resident’s consensus. Every player can furthermore plant and grow virtual organic seeds everywhere he wants. Seeds sprout, and their form is determined by both players’ choice and nearest pillar. Every house, private rooms, and even workspace get their new living virtual avatar-connected 'residents' growing from player-planted seeds. Every room or workspace is transformed into (calming) nature scene, reflecting in some way both players and community spirit and together create a vicinity environment. The conceptual design phase of the project is crucial and allows for the identification of the fundamental problems through abstraction. The project that centers on wide community usage needs a clear and accessible interface. Simultaneously the conceptual design allows early sharing of project ideas and creating public concern. The paper discusses the current conceptual model of an Arboretum project (which is part of a whole widespread project) and its validation.

Keywords: augmented reality, conceptual design, mixed reality, social engineering

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Authors: Simon Quick, John Lyle

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Psychology-based research has been a characteristic of empirical enquiry in sport coaching for over fifty years and cognitive function is widely accepted as a fundamental component of sport coaching expertise. Within the academic literature, much empirical research on coaches’ cognitions has tended to adopt retrospective approaches, such as post-session interviews or stimulated recall, thus capturing coaches’ cognitions after the incident, training session or competition. Such methods are prone to a variety of issues, including memory decay and the reordering of accounts. The aim of this research was to overcome the limitations that exist with retrospective approaches and, rather, to capture coaching cognitions in situ using Think Aloud Protocol. Data that were captured was broken down into meaning units and analysed using a Thematic Analysis. Situated in the practice of 6 experienced rugby coaches, findings revealed that Think Aloud Protocol generated rich data, although problematic in a site of enquiry confounded by multiple social interactions and requiring coaches to provide frequent instruction and feedback. The resultant interaction between cognition and action is conceptualised by the tentative offering of a model that situates these elements in conjunction with cognitive triggers and thresholds. The implications of these findings can help academics and coaches to understand the dynamic relationship between types of coaching cognitions and the complexity of the coaching environment.

Keywords: sports coaching, Psychology, Pedagogy, cognition

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Authors: Amira, A. Goma, U. E. Mahrous

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Welfare may be considered to be a subjective experience; it has a biological function that is related to the fitness and survival of the animal accordingly, researches have suggested that welfare is compromised when the animal's evolutionary fitness is reduced. This study was carried out to explain the effect of some managerial stressors as handling and restraint on behavioral patterns and biochemical parameters of rats. A total of 24 (12 males and 12 females) Sprague-Dawley rats (12 months and 150-180g) were allotted into 3 groups, handled group (4 male and 4 female), restrained group (4 male and 4 female) and control group (4 males and 4 females). The obtained results revealed that time spent feeding, drinking frequency, movement and cage exploration increased significantly in handled rats than other groups, while lying time and licking increased significantly in restrained rats than handled and controls. Moreover, social behavior decreased in both stressed groups than control. Triglycerides were significantly increased in handled rats than other groups, while total lipid, total protein and globulin significantly increased in both treated groups than control. Corticosterone increased in restrained and handled rats than control ones. Moreover, there was an increment in packed cell volume significantly in restrained rats than others. These deducted that if we want to study the effect of stress on animal welfare it is necessary to study the effect of such stressors on animal’s behavior and physiological responses.

Keywords: handling, restraint, welfare, rat, behavior, physiology

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Authors: William Mahony, L. Jacqueline Hirth, Richard Rupp, Sandra Gonzalez, Roger Zoorob

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Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physicians has been considered by many researchers, but less is known about non-physician healthcare workers. The aim of this study is to examine the association of COVID-19 safety training and communication with stress. Methods: A 91-item online survey was distributed, starting January 2, 2021, to non-physician healthcare workers, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical assistants (MAs) in the United States through email and social media. A $1 donation was made to the Red Cross for each completed survey. The survey consisted of demographics, occupational questions, and perceived stress (perceived stress scale, PSS). Items on the PSS were combined for an overall score and categorized according to the severity of perceived stress. Chi-square tests were performed for bivariate analyses of categorical variables. Results: Of the 284 participants consenting to complete the survey, 197 participants completed the full survey. MAs made up most of the sample at 79%. Among all respondents, 47% had moderate PSS scores (scored between 14 and 26), and 51% had severe PSS scores (scored between 27 and 40). Unvaccinated participants reported statistically significantly lower levels of perceived stress (p = 0.002). Performing tasks outside of typical job responsibilities was not associated with PSS scores (p = .667). Discussion: Non-physician healthcare workers demonstrated a high level of perceived stress overall. The association between vaccination status and perceived stress should be examined in order to evaluate whether vaccination levels could be improved with further education about the virus and associated risks.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-Cov-2, nursing, public health

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Authors: Purna Prasad Acharya, Madhav Karki, Sunta B. Tamang, Uttam Basnet, Chhatra Katwal

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The paper outlines the idea behind achieving sustainable lifestyles based on the spiritual values and teachings of Lord Buddha. This objective is to be achieved by spreading the tenets and teachings of Buddhism throughout the Asia Pacific region and the world from the sacred birth place of Buddha - Lumbini, Nepal. There is an urgent need to advance the relevance of Buddhist philosophy in tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature’s decline, and pollution. Today, the world is facing an existential crisis due to the above crises, exasperated by hunger, poverty and armed conflict. To address multi-dimensional impacts, the global communities have to adopt simple life styles that respect nature and universal human values. These were the basic teachings of Gautam Buddha. Lumbini, Nepal has the moral obligation to widely disseminate Buddha’s teaching to the world and receive constant feedback and learning to develop human and ecosystem resilience by molding the lifestyles of current and future generations through adaptive learning and simplicity across the geography and nationality based on spirituality and environmental stewardship. By promoting Buddhism, Nepal has developed a pro-nature tourism industry that focuses on both its spiritual and bio-cultural heritage. Nepal is a country rich in ancient wisdom, where sages have sought knowledge, practiced meditation, and followed spiritual paths for thousands of years. It can spread the teachings of Buddha in a way people can search for and adopt ways to live, creating harmony with nature. Using tools of natural sciences and social sciences, the team will package knowledge and share the idea of community well-being within the framework of environmental sustainability, social harmony and universal respect for nature and people in a more holistic manner. This notion takes into account key elements of sustainable development such as food-energy-water-biodiversity interconnections, environmental conservation, ecological integrity, ecosystem health, community resiliency, adaptation capacity, and indigenous culture, knowledge and values. This inclusive concept has garnered a strong network of supporters locally, regionally, and internationally. The key objectives behind this concept are: a) to leverage expertise and passion of a network of global collaborators to advance research, education, and policy outreach in the areas of human sustainability based on lifestyle change using the power of spirituality and Buddha’s teaching, resilient lifestyles, and adaptive living; b) help develop creative short courses for multi-disciplinary teaching in educational institutions worldwide in collaboration with Lumbini Buddha University and other relevant partners in Nepal; c) help build local and regional intellectual and cultural teaching and learning capacity by improving professional collaborations to promote nature based and Buddhist value-based lifestyles by connecting Lumbini to Nepal’s rich nature; d) promote research avenues to provide policy relevant knowledge that is creative, innovative, as well as practical and locally viable; and e) connect local research and outreach work with academic and cultural partners in South Korea so as to open up Lumbini based Buddhist heritage and Nepal’s Karnali River basin’s unique natural landscape to Korean scholars and students to promote sustainable lifestyles leading to human living in harmony with nature.

Keywords: triple planetary crisis, spirituality, sustainable lifestyles, living in harmony with nature, resilience

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Authors: ZeinolAbedin Rahmani, Marzieh Evazi Borazjani, Nooshin Salehi

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Organizations are increasingly facing changes and developments scientific, technological, social, cultural changes among these organizations those ones are reckoned successful and effective that in addition to coordinating the development of modern society can forecast future changes and be able to accommodate these changes in order to create favorable developments to build a better future. But we can change that with the changes that occur in the organization of the program it will distinguish. Today's organizations need leaders that change and grow them have to survive. In fact, without transformational managers and leaders, it is certainly difficult to create changes in organizations. Both private and public organizations need to increase knowledge and awareness of the cause widespread changes in the structure, culture and practice for the viability and sustainability of life and growth and development. By now, different signs have determined different causes for a suitable function of employees. However, the important thing is that the commitment of the employees to their organization has always been very important. Since the decrease of organization commitment causes the high rate of absenteeism, turnover intentions, and even to reduce the impact of health staff. and these factors prevent organizations from achieving its goals. If organizations want to retain staff, the organization must find a way to be happy and continue their work with commitment, motivation, and willingness. So here is the need for strong leaders, analysts, creative and transformational upper ranks more than ever is felt. The aim of this study is to revise history, the leadership style of managers shipbuilding company by using the MLQ model.

Keywords: leadership style, managers, organizational, manufacturing company, sustainability of life

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Authors: Eashwari Dahoe, Jody Scheuer, Harm-Jan Vink

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Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain condition and is the most common form of dementia. Dementia is a global concern. It is an increasing crisis due to the worldwide aging population. The disease alters the body in different stages leading to several issues. The most common issues result in memory loss, responsive decline, and social decline. During the various stages, the dementia patient must be supported more in performing daily tasks. Eventually, the patient will have to be cared for entirely. There are many efforts in various domains to support this brain condition. This study focuses on the connection between three generations of solutions in the domain of technology and the struggles they tackle. To gather information regarding the struggles seniors with dementia face data has been acknowledged through reading scientific articles. The struggles are extracted from these articles and classified into various category struggles. To gather information regarding the three generations of technology data has been acknowledged through reading scientific articles regarding the generations. After understanding the difference between the three generations, international technological solutions from the past 20 years are connected to the generation they fit. This info is mainly collected through research on companies that aim to improve the lives of senior citizens with early stages of dementia. Eventually, the technological solutions (divided by generations) are linked to the struggles they tackle. By connecting the struggles and the solutions , it is hoped that this paper contributes to an informative overview of the currently available technological solutions and the struggles they tackle.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, technological solutions to support dementia, struggles of seniors with dementia, struggles of dementia

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Authors: Azeem Alphonce

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In Pakistan, there is a variety of skin tones and colors across all provinces. However, a fair complexion is one of the standards of beauty among females in Pakistan, which creates insecurities in dark-complexioned females. This research is a critical discourse analysis of the language used on beauty products for females in Pakistan. The purpose was to analyze the language used on female beauty products using Van Dijk's three-stage socio-cognitive model to understand what message is received from the few words written and repeated across the packaging of various facial products, why such language is used and what are its wider socio-cognitive effects? The criterion for the selection of beauty products was skin whitening terminologies and the language used on these products. The results showed that over 57 per cent of products utilized skin-whitening terms. The adjectives written on the package indicate that fairer skin is the ultimate beauty goal of females. The analysis explored how the language reinforces unfair beauty standards and perpetuates colorism. It was concluded that female beauty products utilize discriminatory discourse by marginalizing individuals of darker skin tones. Fairer skin is promoted, whereas darker skin is referred to as a problem, flaw or imperfection. Socially shared mental models seem to have caused beauty companies to exploit and promote perceptions of colorism in society. Therefore, such discourse should be prevented, and beauty companies should utilize their discourse to promote acceptance of various skin tones.

Keywords: language, skin whitening products, beauty standards, social mental models

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Authors: Behailu Bezabih Ayele

Abstract:

Illustrative expressions in art education and in overall learning are being given increasing attention in the transmission of knowledge. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to present an analysis of graffiti on school desks-a way of smuggling knowledge on the edge of classroom education and learning. The methodological approach focuses on the systematic collection and selection of desk graffiti. Four schools are chosen to reflect socioeconomic status and gender composition. The analysis focused on the categorization of graffiti by genre. This was followed by an analysis of the style, intensity as well as content of the messages in terms of overall social impacts. The paper grounds the analysis by reviewing the literature on modern education and art education in the Ethiopian context, as well as the place of desk graffiti. The findings generally show that the school desks and the school environment, by and large, have managed to serve as vessels through which formal and informal knowledge is acquired, transmitted, engrained into the students and transformed into messages by the students. The desks have also apparently served as a springboard to maximize the interfaces between several ideas and disciplines and communications. However, the very fact that the desks serve as massive channels of expression and knowledge transmission also points to a lack of breadth availability of channels of expression, perhaps confounding the ability of classrooms as means of outlet of expression and documentation for the students. This points to the need for efforts in education policy and funding of artistic endeavors for young students.

Keywords: artistic expression, desk graffiti, education, school children, Ethiopia

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Authors: Waleed Jarjoura

Abstract:

In various cases of visual impairments, the individuals are referred to expert Ophthalmologists in order to establish a correct diagnosis. Children with visual-impairments confront various challenging experiences in life since early childhood throughout lifespan. In some cases, blind infants, especially due to congenital hydrocephalus, suffer from high intra-cranial pressure and, consequently, go through a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt surgery in order to limit the neurological symptoms or decrease the cognitive impairments. In this article, a detailed description of numerous crucial implications of the V/P shunt surgery, through the right posterior-inferior parieto-temporal cortex, on the observed preliminary capabilities that are pre-requisites for the acquisition of literacy skills in braille, basic Math competencies, braille printing which suggest Gerstmann syndrome in the blind. In addition, significant difficultiesorientation and mobility skills using the Cane, in general, organizational skills, and social interactions were observed. The primary conclusion of this report focuses on raising awareness among neuro-surgeons towards the need for alternative intracranial routes for V/P shunt implantation in blind infants that preserve the right posterior-inferior parieto-temporal cortex that is hypothesized to modulate the tactual-spatial cues in braille discrimination. A second conclusion targets educators and therapists that address the acquired dysfunctionsin blind individuals due to V/P shunt surgeries.

Keywords: congenital blindness, hydrocephalus, shunt surgery, spatial orientation

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Authors: Erika R. Chambriard, Sandro C. Izidoro, Davidson P. Mendes, Douglas E. V. Pires

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Work-related illnesses and disorders have been a constant aspect of work. Although their nature has changed over time, from musculoskeletal disorders to illnesses related to psychosocial aspects of work, its impact on the life of workers remains significant. Despite significant efforts worldwide to protect workers, the disparity between changes in work legislation and actual benefit for workers’ health has been creating a significant economic burden for social security and health systems around the world. In this context, this study aims to propose, test and validate a modular prototype that allows for work environmental aspects to be assessed, monitored and better controlled. The main focus is also to provide a historical record of working conditions and the means for workers to obtain comprehensible and useful information regarding their work environment and legal limits of occupational exposure to different types of environmental variables, as means to improve prevention of work-related accidents and disorders. We show the developed prototype provides useful and accurate information regarding the work environmental conditions, validating them with standard occupational hygiene equipment. We believe the proposed prototype is a cost-effective and adequate approach to work environment monitoring that could help elucidate the links between work and occupational illnesses, and that different industry sectors, as well as developing countries, could benefit from its capabilities.

Keywords: Arduino prototyping, occupational health and hygiene, work environment, work-related disorders prevention

Procedia PDF Downloads 127