Search results for: context building

Authors: Matthias Haenisch, Katharina Hermann, Marc Godau, Verena Weidner

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Over the past two decades, international music education has been characterized by a growing interest in informal learning for formal contexts and a "compositional turn" that has moved from closed to open forms of composing. This change occurs under social and technological conditions that permeate 21st-century musical practices. This forms the background of Musical Communities in the (Post)Digital Age (MusCoDA), a four-year joint research project of the University of Erfurt (UE) and the University of Education Karlsruhe (PHK), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Both explore songwriting processes as an example of collective creativity in (post)digital communities, one in formal and the other in informal learning contexts. Collective songwriting will be studied from a network perspective, that will allow us to view boundaries between both online and offline as well as formal and informal or hybrid contexts as permeable and to reconstruct musical learning practices. By comparing these songwriting processes, possibilities for a pedagogical-didactic interweaving of different educational worlds are highlighted. Therefore, the subproject of the University of Erfurt investigates school music lessons with the help of interviews, videography, and network maps by analyzing new digital pedagogical and didactic possibilities. In the first step, the international literature on songwriting in the music classroom was examined for design development. The analysis focused on the question of which methods and practices are circulating in the current literature. Results from this stage of the project form the basis for the first instructional design that will help teachers in planning regular music classes and subsequently reconstruct musical learning practices under these conditions. In analyzing the literature, we noticed certain structural methods and concepts that recur, such as the Building Blocks method and the pre-structuring of the songwriting process. From these findings, we developed a deck of cards that both captures the current state of research and serves as a method for design development. With this deck of cards, both teachers and students themselves can plan their individual songwriting lessons by independently selecting and arranging topic, structure, and action cards. In terms of science communication, music educators' interactions with the card game provide us with essential insights for developing the first design. The overall goal of MusCoDA is to develop an empirical model of collective musical creativity and learning and an instructional design for teaching music in the postdigital age.

Keywords: card game, collective songwriting, community of practice, network, postdigital

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Authors: Mustafa Metin Donma, Orkide Donma

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Obesity is a disease with an ever-increasing prevalence throughout the world. The metabolic network associated with obesity is very complicated. In metabolic syndrome (MetS), it becomes even more difficult to understand. Within this context, hormones, cytokines, and many others participate in this complex matrix. The collaboration among all of these parameters is a matter of great wonder. Cortisol, as a stress hormone, is closely associated with obesity. Thyroid hormones are involved in the regulation of energy as well as glucose metabolism with all of its associates. Fetuin A is known for years; however, the involvement of this parameter in obesity discussions is rather new. Recently, it has been defined as one of the new generation markers of obesity. In this study, the aim was to introduce complex interactions among all to be able to make clear comparisons, at least for a part of this complicated matter. Morbid obese (MO) children participated in the study. Two groups with 46 MO children and 43 with MetS were constituted. All children included in the study were above 99th age- and sex-adjusted body mass index (BMI) percentiles according to World Health Organization criteria. Forty-three morbid obese children in the second group had also MetS components. Informed consent forms were filled by the parents of the participants. The institutional ethics committee has given approval for the study protocol. Data as well as the findings of the study were evaluated from a statistical point of view. Two groups were matched for their age and gender compositions. Significantly higher body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, thyrotropin, and insulin values were observed in the MetS group. Triiodothyronine concentrations did not differ between the groups. Elevated levels for thyroxin, cortisol, and fetuin-A were detected in the MetS group compared to the first group (p > 0.05). In MO MetS- group, cortisol was correlated with thyroxin and fetuin-A (p < 0.05). In the MO MetS+ group, none of these correlations were present. Instead, a correlation between cortisol and thyrotropin was found (p < 0.05). In conclusion, findings have shown that cortisol was the key player in severely obese children. The association of this hormone with the participants of thyroid hormone metabolism was quite important. The lack of association with fetuin A in the morbid obese MetS+ group has suggested the possible interference of MetS components in the behavior of this new generation obesity marker. The most remarkable finding of the study was the unique correlation between cortisol and thyrotropin in the morbid obese MetS+ group, suggesting that thyrotropin may serve as a target along with cortisol in the morbid obese MetS+ group. This association may deserve specific attention during the development of remedies against MetS in the pediatric population.

Keywords: children, cortisol, fetuin A, morbid obesity, thyrotropin

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Authors: Cláudia Pereira, Lívia Boeschenstein

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This article aims to present an analysis of rock band t-shirts as an element that claims a certain identity in modern-contemporary culture. This work focuses on the study of t-shirts that display the name, related elements and the logo of punk band The Ramones, because of its strong presence in the collective mind along the last decades. As we shall see, it is possible to observe a phenomenon of symbolic transition from the original cultural place of that object. At first, it was a piece of cloth that had been part of a specific subculture and then it became just a generic item diluted by the mainstream. This symbolic transitional phenomenon is significant in many ways and will be discussed furthermore. For the analysis, we begin with a brief introduction to the history of the band, followed by the study about the vintage rock band T-shirts and their meanings. From there, we will turn to a historical contextualization of band T-shirts as a subcultural item and to its redefinition after the appropriation made by the mainstream. To guide this reasoning, it will be used theories about the styles, subcultures and youth culture and about material culture from an anthropological perspective. In addition, we shall see the theories and concepts of social representations in order to understand the ways of using the Ramones’s T-shirt as a representative element of a fashionable style. This T-shirt, after being resignified by the standardization and the massive consumption, no longer symbolizes the punk movement, its behavioral motivations and original policies. Also has little to do with the rage the working class suburbs of London or New York. It seems to be a mute and vague sign of a restricted rebellion, foreseen and framed establishing a stylistic contrast to the designer clothes and good behavior predicted by establishment. It's an item that composes a specific style available on the market, but at the same time is accepted by the mainstream and provides a subcultural association that has some prestige in society. Another perspective is that of resignification loop. As the same way that punk resignified the conventional goods for their own social standards, fashion resignifies what was said to be an object of a subculture and absorbs in their own mass culture standards. Therefore, outsiders to the punk phenomenon wearing Ramones’s T-shirts can be perceived negatively by subcultural members, but at the same time are well received by those who are partially unaware or completely out of subcultural context. For the general public, the stamp of the Ramones’s logo happens to be appreciated as a diffuse allusion to a punk style, since its original meaning has being entirely neutralized.

Keywords: social representations, subcultures, material culture, punk

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Authors: Vladimir A. Rozov

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Comparative studies of religion and ritual could contribute better understanding of human culture universalities. Belief in supernatural beings seems to be a common feature of the religion. A significant part of the Islamic concepts that concern supernatural beings is based on a tradition based on the Hadiths. They reflect, among other things, his ideas about a proper way to interact with supernatural beings. These ideas to a large extent follow from the pre-Islamic religious experience of the Arabs and had been reflected in a number of ritual actions. Some of those beliefs concern a particular function of clothing. For example, it is known that Muhammad was wrapped in clothes during the revelation of the Quran. The same thing was performed by pre-Islamic soothsayers (kāhin) and by rival opponents of Muhammad during their trances. Muhammad also turned the clothes inside out during religious rituals (prayer for rain). Besides these specific ways of clothing which prove the external similarity of Muhammad with the soothsayers and other people who claimed the connection with supernatural forces, the pre-Islamic soothsayers had another characteristic feature which is physical flaws. In this regard, it is worth to note Muhammad's so-called "Seal the Prophecy" (h̠ ātam an- nubūwwa) -protrusion or outgrowth on his back. Another interesting feature of Muhammad's behavior was his attitude to eating onion and garlic. In particular, the Prophet didn`t eat them and forbade people who had tasted these vegetables to enter mosques, until the smell ceases to be felt. The reason for this ban on eating onion and garlic is caused by a belief that the smell of these products prevents communication with otherworldly forces. The materials of the Hadith also suggest that Muhammad shared faith in the apotropical properties of water. Both of these ideas have parallels in other cultures of the world. Muhammad's actions supposed to provide an interaction with the supernatural beings are not accidental. They have parallels in the culture of pre-Islamic Arabia as well as in many past and present world cultures. The latter fact can be explained by the similarity of the universal human beliefs in supernatural beings and how they should be interacted with. Later a number of similar ideas shared by the Prophet Muhammad was legitimized by the Islamic tradition and formed the basis of popular Islamic rituals. Thus, these parallels emphasize the commonality of human notions of supernatural beings and also demonstrate the significance of the pre-Islamic cultural context in analyzing the genesis of Islamic religious beliefs.

Keywords: hadith, Prophet Muhammad, ritual, supernatural beings

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Authors: Protik Basu, Indranil Ghosh, Pranab K. Dan

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Lean management is an integrated socio-technical system to bring about a competitive state in an organization. The purpose of this paper is to explore and integrate the role of customers and suppliers with the internal practices of the Indian manufacturing industries towards successful implementation of lean manufacturing (LM). An extensive literature survey is carried out. An attempt is made to build an exhaustive list of all the input manifests related to customers, suppliers and internal practices necessary for LM implementation, coupled with a similar exhaustive list of the benefits accrued from its successful implementation. A structural model is thus conceptualized, which is empirically validated based on the data from the Indian manufacturing sector. With the current impetus on developing the industrial sector, the Government of India recently introduced the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme that aims to increase competitiveness with the help of lean concepts. There is a huge scope to enrich the Indian industries with the lean benefits, the implementation status being quite low. Hardly any survey-based empirical study in India has been found to integrate customers and suppliers with the internal processes towards successful LM implementation. This empirical research is thus carried out in the Indian manufacturing industries. The basic steps of the research methodology followed in this research are the identification of input and output manifest variables and latent constructs, model proposition and hypotheses development, development of survey instrument, sampling and data collection and model validation (exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling). The analysis reveals six key input constructs and three output constructs, indicating that these constructs should act in unison to maximize the benefits of implementing lean. The structural model presented in this paper may be treated as a guide to integrating customers and suppliers with internal practices to successfully implement lean. Integrating customers and suppliers with internal practices into a unified, coherent manufacturing system will lead to an optimum utilization of resources. This work is one of the very first researches to have a survey-based empirical analysis of the role of customers, suppliers and internal practices of the Indian manufacturing sector towards an effective lean implementation.

Keywords: customer management, internal manufacturing practices, lean benefits, lean implementation, lean manufacturing, structural model, supplier management

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Authors: Ässia Boukhatmi, Roger Nyffenegger

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The expansion of solar energy as a means to address the climate crisis is undisputed, but the increasing number of new photovoltaic (PV) modules being put on the market is simultaneously leading to increased challenges in terms of managing the growing waste stream. Many of the discarded modules are still fully functional but are often damaged by improper handling after disassembly or not properly tested to be considered for a second life. In addition, the collection rate for dismantled PV modules in several European countries is only a fraction of previous projections, partly due to the increased number of illegal exports. The underlying problem for those market imperfections is an insufficient data exchange between the different actors along the PV value chain, as well as the limited traceability of PV panels during their lifetime. As part of the Horizon 2020 project CIRCUSOL, an asset database prototype was developed to tackle the described problems. In an iterative process applying the design science research methodology, different business models, as well as the technical implementation of the database, were established and evaluated. To explore the requirements of different stakeholders for the development of the database, surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted with various representatives of the solar industry. The proposed database prototype maps the entire value chain of PV modules, beginning with the digital product passport, which provides information about materials and components contained in every module. Product-related information can then be expanded with performance data of existing installations. This information forms the basis for the application of data analysis methods to forecast the appropriate end-of-life strategy, as well as the circular economy potential of PV modules, already before they arrive at the recycling facility. The database prototype could already be enriched with data from different data sources along the value chain. From a business model perspective, the database offers opportunities both in the area of reuse as well as with regard to the certification of sustainable modules. Here, participating actors have the opportunity to differentiate their business and exploit new revenue streams. Future research can apply this approach to further industry and product sectors, validate the database prototype in a practical context, and can serve as a basis for standardization efforts to strengthen the circular economy.

Keywords: business model, circular economy, database, design science research, solar industry

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Authors: Natalia Alonso-Alberca, Ana I. Vergara

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From the very first years of their life, children are confronted with situations in which they need to deal with emotions. The family provides the first emotional experiences, and it is in the family context that children usually take their first steps towards acquiring emotion knowledge. Parents play a key role in this important task, helping their children develop emotional skills that they will need in challenging situations throughout their lives. Specifically, mothers are models imitated by their children. They create specific spatial and temporal contexts in which children learn about emotions, their causes, consequences, and complexity. This occurs not only through what mothers say or do directly to the child. Rather, it occurs, to a large extent, through the example that they set using their own emotional skills. The aim of the current study was to analyze how maternal abilities to perceive and to manage emotions influence children’s emotion knowledge, specifically, their emotion situation knowledge, taking into account the role played by the mother’s personality, the time spent together, and controlling the effect of age, sex and the child’s verbal abilities. Participants were 153 children from 4 schools in Spain, and their mothers. Children (41.8% girls)age range was 35 - 72 months. Mothers (N = 140) age (M = 38.7; R = 27-49). Twelve mothers had more than one child participating in the study. Main variables were the child´s emotion situation knowledge (ESK), measured by the Emotion Matching Task (EMT), and receptive language, using the Picture Vocabulary Test. Also, their mothers´ Emotional Intelligence (EI), through the Mayer, Salovey, Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and personality, with The Big Five Inventory were analyzed. The results showed that the predictive power of maternal emotional skills on ESK was moderated by the mother’s personality, affecting both the direction and size of the relationships detected: low neuroticism and low openness to experience lead to a positive influence of maternal EI on children’s ESK, while high levels in these personality dimensions resulted in a negative influence on child´s ESK. The time that the mother and the child spend together was revealed as a positive predictor of this EK, while it did not moderate the influence of the mother's EI on child’s ESK. In light of the results, we can infer that maternal EI is linked to children’s emotional skills, though high level of maternal EI does not necessarily predict a greater degree of emotionknowledge in children, which seems rather to depend on specific personality profiles. The results of the current study indicate that a good level of maternal EI does not guarantee that children will learn the emotional skills that foster prosocial adaptation. Rather, EI must be accompanied by certain psychological characteristics (personality traits in this case).

Keywords: emotional intelligence, emotion situation knowledge, mothers, personality, young children

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Authors: Abraham Castellanos, Christophe Durville, Sophie Echenim

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In this article, a portfolio optimization problem is performed in a Solvency II context: it illustrates how advanced optimization techniques can help to tackle complex operational pain points around the monitoring, control, and stability of Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR). The market SCR of a portfolio is calculated as a combination of SCR sub-modules. These sub-modules are the results of stress-tests on interest rate, equity, property, credit and FX factors, as well as concentration on counter-parties. The market SCR is non convex and non differentiable, which does not make it a natural optimization criteria candidate. In the SCR formulation, correlations between sub-modules are fixed, whereas risk-driven portfolio allocation is usually driven by the dynamics of the actual correlations. Implementing a portfolio construction approach that is efficient on both a regulatory and economic standpoint is not straightforward. Moreover, the challenge for insurance portfolio managers is not only to achieve a minimal SCR to reduce non-invested capital but also to ensure stability of the SCR. Some optimizations have already been performed in the literature, simplifying the standard formula into a quadratic function. But to our knowledge, it is the first time that the standard formula of the market SCR is used in an optimization problem. Two solvers are combined: a bundle algorithm for convex non- differentiable problems, and a BFGS (Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb- Shanno)-SQP (Sequential Quadratic Programming) algorithm, to cope with non-convex cases. A market SCR minimization is then performed with historical data. This approach results in significant reduction of the capital requirement, compared to a classical Markowitz approach based on the historical volatility. A comparative analysis of different optimization models (equi-risk-contribution portfolio, minimizing volatility portfolio and minimizing value-at-risk portfolio) is performed and the impact of these strategies on risk measures including market SCR and its sub-modules is evaluated. A lack of diversification of market SCR is observed, specially for equities. This was expected since the market SCR strongly penalizes this type of financial instrument. It was shown that this direct effect of the regulation can be attenuated by implementing constraints in the optimization process or minimizing the market SCR together with the historical volatility, proving the interest of having a portfolio construction approach that can incorporate such features. The present results are further explained by the Market SCR modelling.

Keywords: financial risk, numerical optimization, portfolio management, solvency capital requirement

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Authors: Martha Lilia Del Rio Duque, Michelle Bonatti, Katharina Loehr, Marcos Lana, Tatiana Rodriguez, Stefan Sieber

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Nowadays, most agricultural practices can reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide goods and services. To enhance environmentally friendly food production and to maximize social and economic benefits, sustainable land use systems (SLUS) are one of the most critical strategies increasingly/strongly promoted by donors organizations, international agencies, and policymakers. This process involves the question of how SLUS can be scaled out also large-scale landscapes and not merely isolated experiments. As SLUS are context-specific strategies, diffusion and replication of successful SLUS in Colombia required the identification of main factors that facilitate this scaling out process. We applied a case study approach to investigate the scaling out process of SLUS in cocoa and livestock sector within peacebuilding territories in Colombia, specifically, in Cesar and Caqueta region. These two regions are contrasting, but both have a current trend of increasing land degradation. Presently in Colombia, Caqueta is one of the most deforested departments, and Cesar has some most degraded soils. Following a qualitative research approach, 19 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups were conducted with agroforestry experts in both regions to analyze (1) what does it mean a sustainable land use system in Cocoa/Livestock, specifically in Caqueta or Cesar and (2) to identify the key elements at the level of the following dimensions: biophysical, economic and profitability, market, social, policy and institutions that can explain how and why SLUS are replicated and spread among more producers. The Interviews were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA to identify, analyze and report patterns (themes) within data. As the results show, key themes, among which: premium market, solid regional markets and price stability, water availability and management, generational renewal, land use knowledge and diversification, producer organization and certifications are crucial to understand how the SLUS can have an impact across large-scale landscapes and how the scaling out process can be set up best in order to be successful across different contexts. The analysis further reveals which key factors might affect SLUS efficiency.

Keywords: agroforestry, cocoa sector, Colombia, livestock sector, sustainable land use system

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Authors: Natela Gerliani, Mohammed Aider

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Nowadays, the interest of using sustainable technologies for protein extraction from underutilized oilseeds is growing. Currently, a major disposal problem for the oil industry is by-products of plant food processing such as soybean meal. That is why valorization of soybean meal is important for the oil industry since it contains high-quality proteins and other valuable components. Generally, soybean meal is used in livestock and poultry feed but is rarely used in human feed. Though chemical composition of this meal compensate nutritional deficiency and can be used to balance protein in human food. Regarding the efficiency of soybean meal valorization, extraction is a key process for obtaining enriched protein ingredient, which can be incorporated into the food matrix. However, most of the food components such as proteins extracted from oilseeds by-products imply the utilization of organic and inorganic chemicals (e.g. acids, bases, TCA-acetone) having a significant environmental impact. In a context of sustainable production, the use of an electro-activation technology seems to be a good alternative. Indeed, the electro-activation technology requires only water, food grade salt and electricity as main materials. Moreover, this innovative technology helps to avoid special equipment and trainings for workers safety as well as transport and storage of hazardous materials. Electro-activation is a technology based on applied electrochemistry for the generation of acidic and alkaline solutions on the basis of the oxidation-reduction reactions that occur at the vicinity electrode/solution interfaces. It is an eco-friendly process that can be used to replace the conventional acidic and alkaline extraction. In this research, the electro-activation technology for protein extraction from soybean meal was carried out in the electro-activation reactor. This reactor consists of three compartments separated by cation and anion exchange membranes that allow creating non-contacting acidic and basic solutions. Different current intensities (150 mA, 300 mA and 450 mA) and treatment durations (10 min, 30 min and 50 min) were tested. The results showed that the extracts obtained by the electro-activation method have good quality in comparison to conventional extracts. For instance, extractability obtained with electro-activation method was 55% whereas with the conventional method it was only 36%. Moreover, a maximum protein quantity of 48 % in the extract was obtained with the electro-activation technology comparing to the maximum amount of protein obtained by conventional extraction of 41 %. Hence, the environmentally sustainable electro-activation technology seems to be a promising type of protein extraction that can replace conventional extraction technology.

Keywords: by-products, eco-friendly technology, electro-activation, soybean meal

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Authors: Diego Caballero Vélez

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In 1997 the Schengen Convention was incorporated in the mainstream of EU law by the Amsterdam Treaty. It came into effect in 1999 with the abolition of internal border controls in the EU, a milestone in the European integration project. In the meantime, due to the Yugoslav wars, nearly 700,000 asylum applications were filed in the European countries provoking a major refugee crisis. During this period, the opening of Eastern Europe fostered more cooperation and policy-making at the EU level in migration issues. Currently, a similar migratory crisis is taking place in Europe. The Syrian war has caused the most massive influx of immigrants in Europe since World War II. Nevertheless, the EU is adopting different migration policies from those implemented during the Yugoslav migration crisis. The current crisis has not led to a common European position but national responses have been offered on migration policies and responsibility for border security and asylum-seekers. A lot of factors can explain this change from a cooperation scenario to a no cooperation one, such as the economic crisis, but this research is focused on the premise that 'threat perception' lies at the core of some states grand strategies towards migration and it also influences in multilateral or unilateral responses. Migration rests at the nexus of three dimensions of security, including geopolitical interests, material production, and internal security. According to some scholars, migration policy is an 'integral instrument' of state grand strategy in that context. Political integration at the EU might be altered with the emergence of existential threats. In other words, some areas of the European cooperation can be transformed when a 'critical juncture' occurs, for instance a migration crisis. In that instance, Member states could see migration as a matter of threat that modifies their national interests and willingness to embrace international cooperation. This research will focus on EU Member states´ perceptions of the 90´s migration crisis and the current one. The goal is to evaluate to what extent the perceptions of threat are one of the main factors for explaining the transition from a cooperation scenario to a no-cooperation one in European asylum and security policies. To analyze threat perception in both migration crisis, some relevant Member states are treated as cases of study and a comparative analysis is carried out based on public opinion polls, public and policy discourse in migration, voting practices and deconstruction of the migration policies themselves both at EU level and a national one.

Keywords: cooperation, migration crisis, national responses, threat perception

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Authors: Kamrun Nahar Koly, Saimul Islam

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Overweight and obesity is increasing at an alarming rate and a leading risk factor for morbidity throughout the world. In a country like Bangladesh where under nutrition and overweight both co-exist at the same time, but this issue has been underexplored as expected. The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and identify the barriers of the physicians regarding overweight and obesity management on an urban hospital of Dhaka city in Bangladesh. A simple cross sectional study was conducted at two selected government and two private hospital to assess the knowledge, attitude and common barriers regarding overweight and obesity management among healthcare professionals. One hundred and fifty five physicians were surveyed. A standard questionnaire was constructed in local language and interview was administrated. Among the 155 physicians, majority 53 (34.20%) were working on SMC, 36 (23.20%) from DMC, 33 (21.30%) were based on SSMC and the rest 33 (21.30%) were from HFRCMH. Mean age of the study physicians were 31.88±5.92. Majority of the physicians 80 (51.60%) were not able to answer the correct prevalence of obesity but also a substantial number of them 75(48.40%) could mark the right answer. Among the physicians 150 (96.77%) reported BMI as a diagnostic index for overweight and obesity, where as 43 (27.74%) waist circumference, 30 (19.35%) waist hip ratio and 26 (16.77%) marked mid-arm circumference. A substantial proportion 71 (46.70%) of the physicians thought that they do not have much to do controlling weight problem in Bangladesh context though it has been opposed by 42 (27.60%) of the physicians and 39(25.70%) was neutral to comment. The majority of them 147 (96.1%) thought that a family based education program would be beneficial followed by 145 (94.8%) physicians mentioned about raising awareness among mothers as she is the primary caregiver. The idea of a school based education program will also help to early intervene referred by 142 (92.8%) of the physicians. Community based education program was also appreciated by 136 (89.5%) of the physicians. About 74 (47.7%) of them think that the patients still lack in motivation to maintain their weight properly at the same time too many patients to deal with can be a barrier as well assumed by 73 (47.1%) of them. Lack of national policy or management guideline can act as an obstacle told by 60 (38.7%) of the physicians. The relationship of practicing as a part of the general examination and chronic disease management was statistically significant (p<0.05) with physician occupational status. As besides, perceived barriers like lack of parents support, lack of a national policy was statistically significant (p<0.05) with physician occupational status. For the young physician, more training programme will be needed to transform their knowledge and attitude into practice. However, several important barriers interface for the physician treatment efforts and need to address.

Keywords: obesity management, physician, awareness, barriers, Bangladesh

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Authors: Mercedes Rodriguez Sanchez, Laura Luceño Casals

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With the rise of social media, creative people and brands everywhere are constantly generating content. The students with Bachelor's Degrees in Fashion Design use platforms such as Instagram or TikTok to look for inspiration and entertainment, as well as a way to develop their own ideas and share them with a wide audience. Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have become a central aspect of higher education, virtually affecting every aspect of the student experience. Following the current trend, during the first semester of the second year, a collaborative project across two subjects –Design Management and History of Fashion Design– was implemented. After an introductory class focused on the relationship between fashion and cinema, as well as a brief history of 20th-century fashion, the students freely chose a work team and an iconic look from a movie costume. They researched the selected movie and its sociocultural context, analyzed the costume and the work of the designer, and studied the style, fashion magazines and most popular films of the time. Students then redesigned and recreated the costume, for which they were compelled to recycle the materials they had available at home as an unavoidable requirement of the activity. Once completed the garment, students delivered in-class, team-based presentations supported by the final design, a project summary poster and a making-of video, which served as a documentation tool of the costume design process. The methodologies used include Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), debates, Internet research, application of Information and Communications Technologies, and viewing clips of classic films, among others. After finishing the projects, students were asked to complete two electronic surveys to measure the acquisition of transversal and specific competencies of each subject. Results reveal that this activity helped the students' knowledge acquisition, a deeper understanding of both subjects and their skills development. The classroom dynamic changed. The multidisciplinary approach encouraged students to collaborate with their peers, while educators were better able to keep students' interest and promote an engaging learning process. As a result, the activity discussed in this paper confirmed the research hypothesis: it is positive to propose innovative teaching projects that combine academic research with playful learning environments.

Keywords: cinema, cooperative learning, fashion design, higher education, upcycling

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Authors: Mouna Ettoumi, Jouini Marouen, Carmen Mihaela Neculita, Salah Bouhlel, Lucie Coudert, Mostafa Benzaazoua, Y. Taha

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In the context of sustainable development and circular economy, waste valorization is considered a promising alternative to overcome issues related to their disposal or elimination. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential use of phosphate sludges (tailings) from the Kef Shfeir mine site (Gafsa, Tunisia) as an alternative material in the production of fired bricks. To do so, representative samples of raw phosphate treatment sludges were collected and characterized for their physical, chemical, mineralogical and environmental characteristics. Then, the raw materials were baked at different temperatures (900°C, 1000°C, and 1100°C) for bricks making. Afterward, fired bricks were characterized for their physical (particle size distribution, density, and plasticity), chemical (XRF and digestion), mineralogical (XRD) and mechanical (flexural strength) properties as well as for their environmental behavior (TCLP, SPLP, and CTEU-9) to ensure whether they meet the required construction standards. Results showed that the raw materials had low density (2.47g/cm 3), were non-plastic and were mainly composed of fluoroapatite (15.6%), calcite (23.1%) and clays (22.2% - mainly as heulandite, vermiculite and palygorskite). With respect to the environmental behavior, all metals (e.g., Pb, Zn, As, Cr, Ba, Cd) complied with the requirements set by the USEPA. In addition, fired bricks had varying porosity (9-13%), firing shrinking (5.2-7.5%), water absorption (12.5-17.2%) and flexural strength (3.86-13.4 MPa). Noteworthy, an improvement in the properties (porosity, firing shrinking, water absorption, and flexural strength) of manufactured fired bricks was observed with the increase of firing temperature from 900 to 1100°C. All the measured properties complied with the construction norms and requirements. Moreover, regardless of the firing temperature, the environmental behavior of metals obeyed the requirements of the USEPA standards. Finally, fired bricks could be produced at high temperatures (1000°C) based on 100% of phosphate sludge without any substitution or addition of either chemical agents or binders. This sustainable brick-making process could be a promising approach for the Phosphate Company to partially manage these wastes, which are considered “non-profitable” for the moment and preserve soils that are exploited presently.

Keywords: phosphate treatment sludge, mine waste, backed bricks, waste valorization

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Authors: Anthea Carol Nefdt

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In this article, observations are drawn from a number of interviews conducted with female executives in the South African Oil Industry in 2017. Globally, the oil industry represents one of the most male-dominated organisational structures as well as cultures in the business world. Some of the remarkable women, who hold upper management positions, have not only emerged from the science and finance spheres (equally gendered organisations) but also navigated their way through an aggressive, patriarchal atmosphere of rivalry and competition. We examine various mythology associated with the industry, such as the cowboy myth, the frontier ideology and the queen bee syndrome directed at female executives. One of the themes to emerge from my interviews was the almost unanimous rejection of the ‘glass ceiling’ metaphor favoured by some Feminists. The women of the oil industry rather affirmed a picture of their rise to leadership positions through a strategic labyrinth of challenges and obstacles both in terms of gender and race. This article aims to share the insights of women leaders in a complex industry through both their reflections and a theoretical Feminist lens. The study is located within the South African context and given our historical legacy, it was optimal to use an intersectional approach which would allow issues of race, gender, ethnicity and language to emerge. A qualitative research methodological approach was employed as well as a thematic interpretative analysis to analyse and interpret the data. This research methodology was used precisely because it encourages and acknowledged the experiences women have and places these experiences at the centre of the research. Multiple methods of recruitment of the research participants was utilised. The initial method of recruitment was snowballing sampling, the second method used was purposive sampling. In addition to this, semi-structured interviews gave the participants an opportunity to ask questions, add information and have discussions on issues or aspects of the research area which was of interest to them. One of the key objectives of the study was to investigate if there was a difference in the leadership styles of men and women. Findings show that despite the wealth of literature on the topic, to the contrary some women do not perceive a significant difference in men and women’s leadership style. However other respondents felt that there were some important differences in the experiences of men and women superiors although they hesitated to generalise from these experiences Further findings suggest that although the oil industry provides unique challenges to women as a gendered organization, it also incorporates various progressive initiatives for their advancement.

Keywords: petroleum industry, gender, feminism, leadership

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Authors: Ortiz M. Rocío, Rocha G. Karina, Domenech A. Gloria

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There are several tools to assess the nutritional status of the population. A main instrument commonly used to build those tools is the food composition tables (FCT). Despite the importance of FCT, there are many error sources and variability factors that can be presented on building those tables and can lead to an under or over estimation of ingest of nutrients of a population. This work identified different food composition tables used as an instrument to estimate the nutrient ingest in Ecuador.The collection of data for choosing FCT was made through key informants –self completed questionnaires-, supplemented with institutional web research. A questionnaire with general variables (origin, year of edition, etc) and methodological variables (method of elaboration, information of the table, etc) was passed to the identified FCT. Those variables were defined based on an extensive literature review. A descriptive analysis of content was performed. Ten printed tables and three databases were reported which were all indistinctly treated as food composition tables. We managed to get information from 69% of the references. Several informants referred to printed documents that were not accessible. In addition, searching the internet was not successful. Of the 9 final tables, n=8 are from Latin America, and, n= 5 of these were constructed by indirect method (collection of already published data) having as a main source of information a database from the United States department of agriculture USDA. One FCT was constructed by using direct method (bromatological analysis) and has its origin in Ecuador. The 100% of the tables made a clear distinction of the food and its method of cooking, 88% of FCT expressed values of nutrients per 100g of edible portion, 77% gave precise additional information about the use of the table, and 55% presented all the macro and micro nutrients on a detailed way. The more complete FCT were: INCAP (Central America), Composition of foods (Mexico). The more referred table was: Ecuadorian food composition table of 1965 (70%). The indirect method was used for most tables within this study. However, this method has the disadvantage that it generates less reliable food composition tables because foods show variations in composition. Therefore, a database cannot accurately predict the composition of any isolated sample of a food product.In conclusion, analyzing the pros and cons, and, despite being a FCT elaborated by using an indirect method, it is considered appropriate to work with the FCT of INCAP Central America, given the proximity to our country and a food items list that is very similar to ours. Also, it is imperative to have as a reference the table of composition for Ecuadorian food, which, although is not updated, was constructed using the direct method with Ecuadorian foods. Hence, both tables will be used to elaborate a questionnaire with the purpose of assessing the food consumption of the Ecuadorian population. In case of having disparate values, we will proceed by taking just the INCAP values because this is an updated table.

Keywords: Ecuadorian food composition tables, FCT elaborated by direct method, ingest of nutrients of Ecuadorians, Latin America food composition tables

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Authors: Jessica Ding

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The field of global health is currently advocating for a resurgence in the use of traditional medicines to improve people-centered care. Healthcare policies are rapidly changing in response; in China, the increasing presence of TCM in the same spaces as biomedicine has led to a new term: integrative medicine. However, the existence of TCM as a part of integrative medicine creates a pressing paradoxical tension where TCM is both seen as a marginalized system within ‘modern’ hospitals and as a modality worth integrating. Additionally, the impact of such shifts has not been fully explored: the World Health Organization for one focuses only on three angles —practices, products, and practitioners— with regards to traditional medicines. Through ten weeks of fieldwork conducted at an urban hospital in Shanghai, China, this research expands the perspective of existing strategies by looking at integrative care through a fourth lens: patients and families. The understanding of self-care, health-seeking behavior, and non-professional caregiving structures are critical to grasping the significance of traditional medicine for people-centered care. Indeed, those individual and informal health care expectations align with the very spaces and needs that traditional medicine has filled before such ideas of integration. It specifically looks at this issue via three processes that operationalize experiences of care: (1) how aspects of TCM are valued within integrative medicine, (2) how negotiations of care occur between patients and doctors, and (3) how 'good quality' caregiving presents in integrative clinical spaces. This research hopes to lend insight into how culturally embedded traditions, bureaucratic and institutional rationalities, and social patterns of health-seeking behavior influence care to shape illness experiences at the intersection of two medical modalities. This analysis of patients’ clinical and illness experiences serves to enrich the narratives of integrative medical care’s ability to provide patient-centered care to determine how international policies are realized at the individual level. This anthropological study of the integration of Traditional Chinese medicine in local contexts can reveal the extent to which global strategies, as promoted by the WHO and the Chinese government actually align with the expectations and perspectives of patients receiving care. Ultimately, this ethnographic analysis of a local Chinese context hopes to inform global policies regarding the future use and integration of traditional medicines.

Keywords: emergent systems, global health, integrative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, TCM

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Authors: Seval Kizildag, Ozge Can Aran

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The effective intervention of counselors’ in conflict between spouses may be effective in increasing the quality of marital relationship. At this point, it is necessary for counselors to consider their own value systems at first and then reflect this correctly to the counseling process. For this reason, it is primarily important to determine the needs of counselors. Starting from this point of view, in this study, it is aimed to reveal the perspective of counselor candidates about the universal values in marriage relation. The study group of the survey was formed by sampling, which is one of the prospective sampling methods. As a criterion being a candidate for counseling area and having knowledge of the concepts of the Marriage and Family Counseling course is based, because, that candidate students have a comprehensive knowledge of the field and that students have mastered the concepts of marriage and family counseling will strengthen the findings of this study. For this reason, 61 counselor candidates, 32 (52%) female and 29 (48%) male counselor candidates, who were about to graduate from a university in south-east Turkey and who took a Marriage and Family Counseling course, voluntarily participated in the study. The average age of counselor candidates’ is 23. At the same time, 70 % of the parents of these candidates brought about their marriage through arranged marriage, 13% through flirting, 8% by relative marriage, 7% through friend circles and 2% by custom. The data were collected through Demographic Information Form and a form titled ‘Universal Values Form in Marriage’ which consists of six questions prepared by researchers. After the data were transferred to the computer, necessary statistical evaluations were made on the data. The qualitative data analysis was used on the data which was obtained in the study. The universal values which include six basic values covering trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship, determined under the name as ‘six pillar of character’ are used as base and frequency values of the data were calculated trough content analysis. According to the findings of the study, while the value which most students find the most important value in marriage relation is being reliable, the value which they find the least important is to have citizenship consciousness. Also in this study, it is found out that counselor candidates associate the value of being trustworthiness ‘loyalty’ with (33%) as the highest in terms of frequency, the value of being respect ‘No violence’ with (23%), the value of responsibility ‘in the context of gender roles and spouses doing their owns’ with (35%) the value of being fairness ‘impartiality’ with (25%), the value of being caring ‘ being helpful’ with (25%) and finally as to the value of citizenship ‘love of country’ with (14%) and’ respect for the laws ‘ with (14%). It is believed that these results of the study will contribute to the arrangements for the development of counseling skills for counselor candidates regarding value in marriage and family counseling curricula.

Keywords: caring, citizenship, counselor candidate, fairness, marriage relationship, respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, value system

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Authors: Miraji H. Mohamed

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The purpose of this study is to critique ‘radicalisation’ and more particularly ‘youth radicalisation’ by exploring its usage in online newspapers. ‘Radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ have become the most common terms in terrorism studies since the 9/11 attacks. Regardless of the geographic location, when the word terrorism is used the terms ‘radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ always follow to attempt to explore the journey of the perpetrators towards violence. These terms have come to represent a discourse of dominantly pejorative traits often used to describe spaces, groups, and processes identified as problematic. Even though ambiguously defined they feature widely in government documents, political statements, news articles, academic research, social media platforms, religious gatherings, and public discussions. Notably, ‘radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ have been closely conflated with the term youth to form ‘youth radicalisation’ to refer to a discourse of ‘youth at risk’. The three terms largely continue to be used unquestioningly and interchangeably hence the reason why they are placed in single quotation marks to deliberately question their conventional usage. Albeit this comes timely in the Kenyan context where there has been a proliferation of academic and expert research on ‘youth radicalisation’ (used as a neutral label) without considering the political, cultural and socio-historical contexts that inform this label. This study seeks to draw these nuances by employing a genealogical approach that historicises and deconstructs ‘youth radicalisation’; and by applying a Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) of Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse Kenyan online newspaper - The Daily Nation between 2015 and 2018. By applying the concept of representation to analyse written texts, the study reveals that the use of ‘youth radicalisation’ as a discursive strategy disproportionately affects young people especially those from cultural/ethnic/religious minority groups. Also, the ambiguous use of ‘radicalisation’ and ‘youth radicalisation’ by the media reinforces the discourse of ‘youth at risk’ which has become the major framework underpinning Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) interventions. Similarly, the findings indicate that the uncritical use of ‘youth radicalisation’ has been used to serve political interests; and has become an instrument of policing young people, thus contributing to their cultural shaping. From this, it is evident that the media could thwart rather than assist CVE efforts. By exposing the political nature of the three terms through evidence-based research, this study offers recommendations on how critical reflective reporting by the media could help to make CVE more nuanced.

Keywords: discourse, extremism, radicalisation, terrorism, youth

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Authors: Medani Prasad Rijal

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The study outlines the impacts of decentralized forest policy on natural Sal (shorea robusta) forests in the Terai region of Nepal. The government has implemented community forestry program to manage the forest resources and improve the livelihood of local people collectively. The forest management authorities such as conserve, manage, develop and use of forest resources were shifted to the local communities, however, the ownership right of the forestland retained by the government. Local communities took the decision on harvesting, distribution, and sell of forest products by fixing the prices independently. The local communities were putting the low value of forest products and distributed among the user households on the name of collective decision. The decision of low valuation is devaluating the worth of forest products. Therefore, the study hypothesized that decision-making capacities are equally prominent next to the decentralized policy and program formulation. To accomplish the study, individual to group level discussions and questionnaire survey methods were applied with executive committee members and user households. The study revealed that the local intuition called Community Forest User Group (CFUG) committee normally took the decisions on consensus basis. Considering to the access and affording capacity of user households having poor economic backgrounds, low pricing mechanism of forest products has been practiced, even though the Sal timber is far expensive in the local market. The local communities thought that low pricing mechanism is accessible to all user households from poor to better off households. However, the analysis of forest products distribution opposed the assumption as most of the Sal timber, which is the most valuable forest product of community forest only purchased by the limited households of better economic conditions. Since the Terai region is heterogeneous by socio-economic conditions, better off households always have higher affording capacity and possibility of taking higher timber benefits because of low price mechanism. On the other hand, the minimum price rate of forest products has poor contribution in community fund collection. Consequently, it has poor support to carry out poverty alleviation activities to poor people. The local communities have been fixed Sal timber price rate around three times cheaper than normal market price, which is a strong evidence of forest product devaluation itself. Finally, the study concluded that the capacity building of local executives as the decision-makers of natural Sal forests is equally indispensable next to the policy and program formulation for effective decentralized forest management. Unilateral decentralized forest policy may devaluate the forest products rather than devolve of power to the local communities and empower to them.

Keywords: community forestry program, decentralized forest policy, Nepal, Sal forests, Terai

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Authors: Anne Bubriski

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Despite improvements in gender inequalities, women and girls continue to face glass ceilings, underrepresentation, and harmful stereotypes that can limit their aspirations and opportunities in STEM. While girls are taking similar high school math and science classes, boys are more likely to take physics and six times more likely to take an engineering course. The gap becomes even larger for minority or low-income girls. This gender gap is not due to biology; rather, it is due to cultural, social, and institutional forces. As girls get older, these forces often ‘teach’ them ‘STEM is more for boys’. The STEM gender gap widens in college, with only 20% of engineering degrees being awarded to women, and by the time women enter the workforce, they only occupy about 13% of engineering jobs. At the University of Central Florida, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program has developed a unique mentoring program to address these issues, Science Leadership and Mentoring (SLAM). What is unique about the approach of SLAM is that we look to address this problem through leadership and STEM. We look to help girls make connections between leadership and STEM—that young women can be leaders as scientists and that scientists are leaders making a change. This is particularly needed and relevant to our community because while there are mentoring programs to our knowledge, SLAM is one of the only, if not only, mentoring programs pairing college women and 7th-grade girls that includes a focus both on STEM and leadership in the United States. SLAM is a curriculum-based mentoring program pairing one 7th-grade girl with one UCF undergraduate STEM major. SLAM empowers young women to be assertive, brave, confident, independent, inquisitive and proud leaders in STEM. SLAM seeks to promote young women’s inspiration and excitement into STEM fields and careers while also building leadership abilities such as problem-solving, teamwork and cooperation, cultural identity and ethnic pride, advocacy for positive change, and goals for the future. SLAM serves about fifteen 7th-grade girls for the academic year and about 20 UCF students. SLAM holds weekly mentoring meetings lasting about 90 minutes, covering topics on leadership, STEM majors and careers, and STEM leadership. This past year, SLAM received a Community Action Grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to run a sub-program, SLAM-Space. SLAM-Space focused on exposing SLAM participants to aerospace engineering and other space-related STEM fields, such as physics and astronomy, through guest speakers, workshops and field trips, including the Kenndy Space Center. The proposed paper presentation will present an overview of SLAM-Space and the data findings from pre and post-surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups from the SLAM participants' experiences in the program.

Keywords: gender, leadership, STEM, empowerment

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Authors: Soo-Yong Cho, Chong-Hyun Cho, Chae-Whan Rim, Sang-Kyu Choi, Jin-Gyun Kim, Ju-Seok Nam

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Recently, vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) have been widely used to produce electricity even in urban. They have several merits such as low sound noise, easy installation of the generator and simple structure without yaw-control mechanism and so on. However, their blades are operated under the influence of the trailing vortices generated by the preceding blades. This phenomenon deteriorates its output power and makes difficulty predicting correctly its performance. In order to improve the performance of VAWT, wind power towers can be applied. Usually, the wind power tower can be constructed as a multi-story building to increase the frontal area of the wind stream. Hence, multiple sets of the VAWT can be installed within the wind power tower, and they can be operated at high elevation. Many different types of wind power tower can be used in the field. In this study, a wind power tower with circular column shape was applied, and the VAWT was installed at the center of the wind power tower. Seven guide walls were used as a strut between the floors of the wind power tower. These guide walls were utilized not only to increase the wind velocity within the wind power tower but also to adjust the wind direction for making a better working condition on the VAWT. Hence, some important design variables, such as the distance between the wind turbine and the guide wall, the outer diameter of the wind power tower, the direction of the guide wall against the wind direction, should be considered to enhance the output power on the VAWT. A numerical analysis was conducted to find the optimum dimension on design variables by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) among many prediction methods. The CFD could be an accurate prediction method compared with the stream-tube methods. In order to obtain the accurate results in the CFD, it needs the transient analysis and the full three-dimensional (3-D) computation. However, this full 3-D CFD could be hard to be a practical tool because it requires huge computation time. Therefore, the reduced computational domain is applied as a practical method. In this study, the computations were conducted in the reduced computational domain and they were compared with the experimental results in the literature. It was examined the mechanism of the difference between the experimental results and the computational results. The computed results showed this computational method could be an effective method in the design methodology using the optimization algorithm. After validation of the numerical method, the CFD on the wind power tower was conducted with the important design variables affecting the performance of VAWT. The results showed that the output power of the VAWT obtained using the wind power tower was increased compared to them obtained without the wind power tower. In addition, they showed that the increased output power on the wind turbine depended greatly on the dimension of the guide wall.

Keywords: CFD, performance, VAWT, wind power tower

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Authors: Sohil I. Alqazlan

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Introduction and Objectives: There is limited research focusing on young adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and their experiences after finishing compulsory education, especially in the Middle Eastern/Arab countries. This paper aims to further understand the lives of young adults with ID in Riyadh [the capital city of Saudi Arabia], particularly as they go on to access Post-Secondary Education [PSE]. As part of this study, it is important to understand the roles of high schools in Riyadh in terms of preparing their students for post-school life. To achieve this, the researcher has asked Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education to provide student transition plans (TPs) for post-school opportunities. However, and unfortunately, high schools in Riyadh do not use transition plans for their students. Therefore, the researcher has requested individual education plans (IEPs) for students with ID in their final year at high school to find the type of support the students had regarding both their long- and short-term goals that might help them access PSE or the labour market. Methods: The researcher analysed 10 IEPs of students in their final year at high school. To achieve the aim of the study, the researcher compared these IEPs with expectations set out in the official IEP framework of the MoE in Saudi Arabia, such as collaboration on the IEP sample and the focus on adult life. By analysing the students’ IEPs in terms of various goals, this study attempts to highlight skills that might offer students more independence after finishing compulsory education and going on to PSE. Results: Unfortunately, communication between IEP team members proved persistently absent in the sample. This was clear from the fact that none of the team members, apart from the SEN teachers, had signed any of the IEPs. Thus, none of the daily or weekly goals outlined were sent to parents to review at home. As a result of this, there were no goals in the IEPs that clearly referred to PSE. However, some long-term goals were set which might help those with ID become more independent in their adult life. For example, in the IEPs, which dealt with computer skills, the student had goals related to using Microsoft Word. Finally, just one goal of these IEPs set an important independent skill for the young adults with ID: “the student will learn how to use public transportation”. Conclusions: From analysing the ten IEPs, it was clear that SEN teachers in Riyadh schools were working without any help from other professionals. The students with ID, as well as their families, were not consulted on their views on important goals. Therefore, more work needs to be done with the students regarding their transition to PSE, perhaps by building partnerships between high schools and potential PSE institutions. Finally, more PSE programmes and a higher level of employer awareness could help create a bridge for students transferring from high school to PSE. Schools could also focus their IEP goals towards specific PSE programmes the student might attend, which could increase their chances of success.

Keywords: high school, post-secondary education, PSE, students with intellectual disabilities

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Authors: Daniel J. Patricio Jiménez

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The term 'total compensation’ refers to salary, training, innovation, and development, and of course, motivation; total compensation is an open and flexible system which must facilitate personal and family conciliation and therefore cannot be isolated from social reality. Today, the challenge for any company that wants to have a future is to be sustainable, and women play a ‘special’ role in this. Spain, in its statutory and conventional development, has not given sufficient response to new phenomena such as ‘bonuses’, ‘stock options’ or ‘fringe benefits’ (constructed dogmatically and by court decisions), the new digital reality, where cryptocurrency, new collaborative models and service provision -such as remote work-, are always ahead of the law. To talk about compensation is to talk about the gender gap, and with the entry into force of RD.902 /2020 on 14 April 2021, certain measures are necessary under the principle of salary transparency; the valuation of jobs, the pay register (Rd. 6/2019) and the pay audit, are an example of this. Analyzing the methodologies, and in particular the determination and weight of the factors -so that the system itself is not discriminatory- is essential. The wage gap in Spain is smaller than in Europe, but the sources do not reflect the reality, and since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a clear stagnation. A living wage is not the minimum wage; it is identified with rights and needs; it is that which, based on internal equity, reflects the competitiveness of the company in terms of human capital. Spain has lost and has not recovered the relative weight of its wages; this is having a direct impact on our competitiveness, consequently on the precariousness of employment and undoubtedly on the levels of extreme poverty. Training is becoming more than ever a strategic factor; the new digital reality requires that each component of the system is connected, the transversality is imposed on us, this forces us to redefine content, to give answers to the new demands that the new normality requires because technology and robotization are changing the concept of employability. The presence of women in this context is necessary, and there is a long way to go. The so-called emotional compensation becomes particularly relevant at a time when pandemics, silence, and disruption, are leaving after-effects; technostress (in all its manifestations) is just one of them. Talking about motivation today makes no sense without first being aware that mental health is a priority, that it must be treated and communicated in an inclusive way because it increases satisfaction, productivity, and engagement. There is a clear conclusion to all this: compensation systems do not respond to the ‘new normality’: diversity, and in particular women, cannot be invisible in human resources policies if the company wants to be sustainable.

Keywords: diversity, gender gap, human resources, sustainability.

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Authors: Morgan Dombroski, Alexis Hartman

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Purpose: The present study aimed to explore factors related to overtraining within a female collegiate sample by analyzing the aftereffects of overtraining on athletes' physical and emotional well-being. Methods: 51 female collegiate athletes participated in a de-identified survey to assess factors related to overtraining. All survey questions were derived from the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire. Descriptive and bivariate correlations were conducted to test for significant factors related to the athletes' physical and emotional well-being relating to sports engagement. Results: Descriptive statistics indicated: 80.4% of athletes reported feeling tired from sport-related work, 72.5% reported parts of their body were aching, 47.1% reported feeling emotionally drained, and 37.3% reported feeling burnt out by sport. These findings were consistent with bivariate correlations, which yielded statistically significant findings between physical fatigue and emotional distress. Discussion: In a general sense, athletes increase their training to maximize their performance. The current study aimed to analyze how this training process can result in overtraining of female collegiate athletes, which in turn may negatively impact their physical and emotional functioning. Overtraining syndrome can occur as a maladaptive response to excessive exercise and inappropriate rest caused by systemic inflammation, which negatively affects the central nervous system. The physical manifestations of overtraining can then lead to depressed mood, fatigue, and neurohormonal changes in athletes. To remain competitive and high performing in sports, athletes partaking in excessive training can result in overtraining syndrome, athlete burnout, and compulsive exercise. Additionally, overtrained athletes were defined by displaying high levels of perfectionism, maladaptive coping, and training distress. The current study supported these findings, which yielded a strong correlation between physical and emotional functioning in the context of overtraining in sports. All in all, the environment revolving around sports and the intensity of training can be extremely stressful for athletes. There is a need to monitor athletes’ subjective responses to training, which will allow for early identification of at-risk athletes giving clinicians various opportunities to reduce the negative consequences of overtraining. By better understanding symptoms of emotional and physical fatigue, collegiate sports can become more aware of overtraining symptoms to prevent further detriment to female athletes' overall well-being.

Keywords: burnout, emotionally drained, overtraining, performance, well-being

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Authors: Soledad Natalia M. Dalisay, Mylene De Guzman

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In archipelagic countries like the Philippines, many communities thrive along coastal areas. The sea is the community members’ main source of livelihood and the site of many cultural activities. For these communities, the sea is their life and livelihood. Nevertheless, the sea also poses a hazard during the rainy season when typhoons frequent their communities. Coastal communities often encounter threats from storm surges and flooding that are common when there are typhoons. During such periods, disaster evacuation programs are implemented. However, in many instances, evacuation has been the bane of local government officials implementing such programs in their communities as resistance from community members is often encountered. Such resistance is often viewed by program implementers as due to the fact that people were hard headed and ignorant of the potential impacts of living in hazard prone areas. This paper argues that it is not for these reasons that people refused to evacuate. Drawing from data collected from fieldwork done in three sites in Central Philippines affected by super typhoon Haiyan, this study aimed to provide a contextualized understanding of peoples’ refusal to heed disaster evacuation warnings. This study utilized the multi-sited ethnography approach with in-depth episodic interviews, focus group discussions, participatory risk mapping and key informant interviews in gathering data on peoples’ experiences and insights specifically on evacuation during typhoon Haiyan. This study showed that people have priorities and considerations vital in their social lives that they are protecting in their refusal to leave their homes for pre-emptive evacuation. It is not that they are not aware of the risks when the face the hazard. It is more that they had faith in the local knowledge and strategies that they have developed since the time of their ancestors as a result of living and engaging with hazards in their areas for as long as they could remember. The study also revealed that risk in encounters with hazards was gendered. Furthermore, previous engagement with local government officials and the manner in which the pre-emptive evacuation programs were implemented had cast doubt on the value of such programs in saving their lives. Life in the designated evacuation areas can be as dangerous if not more compared with living in their coastal homes. There seems to be the impression that in the evacuation program of the government, people were being moved from hazard zones to death zones. Thus, this paper ends with several recommendations that may contribute to building more responsive evacuation programs that aim to build people’s resilience while taking into consideration the local moral world in communities in identified hazard zones.

Keywords: coastal communities, disaster evacuation, disaster risk perception, social and cultural responses to hazards

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Authors: Crisanto H. Ecaldre

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Gender perception represents how an individual perceives the gender identity of a person. Since this is a subjective assessment, it paves the way to various social reactions, either in the form of acceptance or discrimination. Reports across the world show that lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) people often face discrimination, stigmatization, and targeted violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. However, the challenges faced by those who belong to both a sexual minority and a marginalized ethnic, religious, linguistic, or indigenous community are even more complex. Specifically, in Palaw’an community, members own those who identify themselves as gays or lesbians and use “bantut” to identify them. There was also the introduction of various scholarly works to facilitate dialogues that promote visibility and inclusivity across sectors in terms of gender preferences; however, there are still gaps that need to be addressed in terms of recognition and visibility. Though local research initiatives are slowly increasing in terms of numbers, culturally situating gender studies appropriately within the context of indigenous cultural communities is still lacking. Indigenous community-based discourses on gender or indigenizing gender discourses remain a challenge; hence, this study aimed to contribute to addressing these identified gaps. These research objectives were realized through a qualitative approach following an exploratory design. Findings revealed that the Palaw’an indigenous cultural community has an existing concept of homosexuality, which they termed “bantut.” This notion was culturally defined by the participants as (a) kaloob ng diwata; (b) a manifestation of physical inferiority; (c) hindi nakapag-asawa or hindi nagka-anak; and (d) based on the ascribed roles by the community. These were recognized and valued by the community. However, despite the recognition and visibility within the community, the outside people view them otherwise. The challenges experienced by the Palaw’an homosexuals are imposed by the people outside their community, and these include prejudice, discrimination, and double marginalization. Because of these struggles, they are forced to cope. They deal with these imposed limitations, biases, and burdens by non-Palaw’an through self-acceptance, strong self-perception, and the option to leave the community to seek a more open and progressive environment for LGBTs. While these are indications of their ‘resilience’ amidst difficult situations, this reality poses an important concern -how the recognition and visibility of indigenous homosexuals from the mainstream perspective can be attained.

Keywords: gender preference, acceptability, challenge, recognition, visibility, coping

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Authors: W. Hajuthman, R. Warner, S. Rahman, M. Abraham, H. Helliwell, D. Bodiwala

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Context: Prostate cancer is a prevalent cancer in males in Europe and the US, with diagnosis primarily relying on PSA testing, mpMRI, and subsequent biopsies. However, this diagnostic strategy may lead to complications for patients. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to assess compliance with trust guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis in patients undergoing transperineal template biopsies of the prostate and evaluate the rate of post-procedure complications. Methodology: This study is conducted retrospectively over an 8-month period. Data collection includes patient demographics, compliance with trust guidelines, associated risk factors, and post-procedure complications such as infection, haematuria, and urinary retention. Findings: The audit includes 100 patients with a median age of 66.11. The compliance with pre-procedure antibiotics was 98%, while compliance with antibiotic prophylaxis recommended by trust guidelines was 68%. Among the patients, 3% developed post-procedure sepsis, with 2 requiring admission for intravenous antibiotics. No evident risk factors were identified in these cases. Additionally, post-procedure urinary retention occurred in 3% of patients and post-procedure haematuria in 2%. Theoretical Importance: This study highlights the increasing use of transperineal template biopsies across UK centres and suggests that having a standardized protocol and compliance with guidelines can reduce confusion, ensure appropriate administration of antibiotics, and mitigate post-procedure complications. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Data for this study is collected retrospectively, involving the extraction and analysis of relevant information from patient records over the specified 8-month period. Question Addressed: This study addresses the following research questions: (1) What is the compliance rate with trust guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis in transperineal template biopsies of the prostate? (2) What is the rate of post-procedure complications, such as infection, haematuria, and urinary retention? Conclusion: Transperineal template biopsies are becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK. Implementing a standardized protocol and ensuring compliance with guidelines can reduce confusion, ensure proper administration of antibiotics, and potentially minimize post-procedure complications. Additionally, considering that studies show no difference in outcomes when prophylactic antibiotics are not used, the reminder to follow trust guidelines may prompt a re-evaluation of antibiotic prescribing practices.

Keywords: prostate, transperineal template biopsies of prostate, antibiotics, complications, microbiology, guidelines

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Authors: M. S. Riyazulla

Abstract:

Since the dawn of the 21st century, there has been a perceptible decline in Islamic supremacy in world affairs, apart from the gradual waning of the amiable relations and relevance of Islamic countries in the International political arena. For a long, Islamic countries have been marginalised by the superpowers in the global conflicting issues. This was evident in the context of their recent invasions and interference in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Libya. The leading International Islamic organizations like the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Gulf Cooperation Council, and Muslim World League did not play any prominent role there in resolving the crisis that ensued due to the exogenous and endogenous causes. Hence, there is a need for Islamic countries to create a credible International Islamic organization that could dictate its terms and shape a new Islamic world order. The prominent Islamic countries are divided on ideological and religious fault lines. Their concord is indispensable to enhance their image and placate the relations with other countries and communities. The massive boon of oil and gas could be synergistically utilised to exhibit their omnipotence and eminence through constructive ways. The prevailing menace of Islamophobia could be abated through syncretic messages, discussions, and deliberations by the sagacious Islamic scholars with the other community leaders. Presently, as Muslims are at a crossroads, a dynamic leadership could navigate the agitated Muslim community on the constructive path and herald political stability around the world. The present political disorder, chaos, and economic challenges necessities a paradigm shift in approach to worldly affairs. This could also be accomplished through the advancement in science and technology, particularly space exploration, for peaceful purposes. The Islamic world, in order to regain its lost preeminence, should rise to the occasion in promoting peace and tranquility in the world and should evolve a rational and human-centric solution to global disputes and concerns. As a splendid contribution to humanity and for amicable international relations, they should devote all their resources and scientific intellect towards space exploration and should safely transport man from the Earth to the nearest and most accessible cosmic body, the Moon, within one hundred years as the mankind is facing the existential threat on the planet.

Keywords: carboniferous period, Earth, extinction, fossil fuels, global leaders, Islamic glory, international order, life, marginalization, Moon, natural catastrophes

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Areti Angeliki Veroniki, Sofia Tsokani, Evangelos Paraskevaidis, Dimitris Mavridis

Abstract:

The plethora of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies has led to the increased use of systematic reviews and meta-analysis of DTA studies. Clinicians and healthcare professionals often consult DTA meta-analyses to make informed decisions regarding the optimum test to choose and use for a given setting. For example, the human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA, mRNA, and cytology can be used for the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2+ (CIN2+) diagnosis. But which test is the most accurate? Studies directly comparing test accuracy are not always available, and comparisons between multiple tests create a network of DTA studies that can be synthesized through a network meta-analysis of diagnostic tests (DTA-NMA). The aim is to summarize the DTA-NMA methods for at least three index tests presented in the methodological literature. We illustrate the application of the methods using a real data set for the comparative accuracy of HPV DNA, HPV mRNA, and cytology tests for cervical cancer. A search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus from inception until the end of July 2019 to identify full-text research articles that describe a DTA-NMA method for three or more index tests. Since the joint classification of the results from one index against the results of another index test amongst those with the target condition and amongst those without the target condition are rarely reported in DTA studies, only methods requiring the 2x2 tables of the results of each index test against the reference standard were included. Studies of any design published in English were eligible for inclusion. Relevant unpublished material was also included. Ten relevant studies were finally included to evaluate their methodology. DTA-NMA methods that have been presented in the literature together with their advantages and disadvantages are described. In addition, using 37 studies for cervical cancer obtained from a published Cochrane review as a case study, an application of the identified DTA-NMA methods to determine the most promising test (in terms of sensitivity and specificity) for use as the best screening test to detect CIN2+ is presented. As a conclusion, different approaches for the comparative DTA meta-analysis of multiple tests may conclude to different results and hence may influence decision-making. Acknowledgment: This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020» in the context of the project “Extension of Network Meta-Analysis for the Comparison of Diagnostic Tests ” (MIS 5047640).

Keywords: colposcopy, diagnostic test, HPV, network meta-analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 121