Search results for: psychological- social approach
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 22257

Search results for: psychological- social approach

13857 Automatic Moderation of Toxic Comments in the Face of Local Language Complexity in Senegal

Authors: Edouard Ngor Sarr, Abel Diatta, Serigne Mor Toure, Ousmane Sall, Lamine Faty

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Thanks to Web 2, we are witnessing a form of democratization of the spoken word, an exponential increase in the number of users on the web, but also, and above all, the accumulation of a daily flow of content that is becoming, at times, uncontrollable. Added to this is the rise of a violent social fabric characterised by hateful and racial comments, insults, and other content that contravenes social rules and the platforms' terms of use. Consequently, managing and regulating this mass of new content is proving increasingly difficult, requiring substantial human, technical, and technological resources. Without regulation and with the complicity of anonymity, this toxic content can pollute discussions and make these online spaces highly conducive to abuse, which very often has serious consequences for certain internet users, ranging from anxiety to suicide, depression, or withdrawal. The toxicity of a comment is defined as anything that is rude, disrespectful, or likely to cause someone to leave a discussion or to take violent action against a person or a community. Two levels of measures are needed to deal with this deleterious situation. The first measures are being taken by governments through draft laws with a dual objective: (i) to punish the perpetrators of these abuses and (ii) to make online platforms accountable for the mistakes made by their users. The second measure comes from the platforms themselves. By assessing the content left by users, they can set up filters to block and/or delete content or decide to suspend the user in question for good. However, the speed of discussions and the volume of data involved mean that platforms are unable to properly monitor the moderation of content produced by Internet users. That's why they use human moderators, either through recruitment or outsourcing. Moderating comments on the web means assessing and monitoring users‘ comments on online platforms in order to strike the right balance between protection against abuse and users’ freedom of expression. It makes it possible to determine which publications and users are allowed to remain online and which are deleted or suspended, how authorised publications are displayed, and what actions accompany content deletions. In this study, we look at the problem of automatic moderation of toxic comments in the face of local African languages and, more specifically, on social network comments in Senegal. We review the state of the art, highlighting the different approaches, algorithms, and tools for moderating comments. We also study the issues and challenges of moderation in the face of web ecosystems with lesser-known languages, such as local languages.

Keywords: moderation, local languages, Senegal, toxic comments

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13856 The Reality of Food Scarcity in Madhya Pradesh: Is It a Glimpse or Not?

Authors: Kalyan Sundar Som, Ghanshyam Prasad Jhariya

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Population growth is an important pervasive phenomenon in the world. Its survival depends upon many daily needs and food is one of them. Population factors play a decisive role in the human endeavor to attain food. Nutrition and health status compose integral part of human development and progress of a society. Therefore, the neglect any one of these components may leads to the deterioration of the quality of life. Food is also intimately related with economic growth and social progress as well as with political stability and peace. It refers to the availability of food and its access to it. It can be observed from global to local level. Food scarcity has emerged as a matter of great concern all over the world due to uncontrolled and unregulated growth of population .For this purpose this study try to find out the deficit or surplus production of food availability in terms of their total population in the study area. It also ascertains the population pressure, demand and supply of food stuff and demarcation of insecure areas.The data base of the study under discussion includes government published data regarding agriculture production, yield and cropped area in 2005-06 to 2011-12 available at commissioner land record Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior. It also includes the census of India for population data. For measuring food security or insecurity regions is based on the consumption of net food available in terms caloric value minus the consumption by the weighted total population. This approach has been adopted because the direct estimate of production and consumption is the only reliable way to ascertain food security in a unit area and to compare one area with another (Noor Mohammad, dec. 2002). The scenario in 2005-06 is 57.78 percent district has food insufficient in terms of their population. On the other hand after 5 years, there are only 22 % districts are deficit in term of food availability where Burhanpur is the most deficit (56 percent) district. While 20% district are highly surplus district in the state where Harda and Hoshangabad districts are very high surplus district (5 times and 3.95 times) in term of food availability(2011). The drastic change (agriculture transformation) is happen due government good intervention in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: agriculture transformation, caloric value method, deficit or surplus region, population pressure

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13855 Impact of Teacher’s Behavior in Class Room on Socialization and Mental Health of School Children: A Student’s Perspective

Authors: Umaiza Bashir, Ushna Farukh

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The present study examined the perspective of school students regarding teacher’s behavioral pattern during a teaching in classroom and its influence on the students’ socialization particularly forming peer relationships with the development of emotional, behavioral problems in school children. To study these dimension of teacher-student classroom relationship, 210 school children (105 girls and 105 boys) within the age range of 14 to 18 years were taken from the government, private schools. The cross-sectional research design was used in which stratified random sampling was done. Teacher-student interaction scale was used to assess the teacher-student relationship in the classroom, which had two factors such as positive and negative interaction. Peer relationship scale was administered to investigate the socialization of students, and School Children Problem Scale was also given to the participants to explore their emotional, behavioral issues. The analysis of Pearson correlation showed that there is a significant positive relationship between negative teacher-student interaction and student’s emotional-behavioral as well as social problems. Another analysis of t-test revealed that boys perceived more positive interaction with teachers than girls (p < 0.01). Girls showed more emotional behavioral problems than boys (p < 0.001) Linear regression explained that age, gender, negative teacher’s interaction with students and victimization in social gathering predicts mental health problems in school children. This study suggests and highlights the need for the school counselors for the better mental health of students and teachers.

Keywords: teacher-student interaction, school psychology, student’s emotional behavioral problems

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13854 Contribution of Home Gardens to Rural Household Income in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Authors: K. Alaka, A. Obi

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Home garden has proved to be significant to rural inhabitants by providing a wide range of useful products such as fruits, vegetables and medicine. There is need for quantitative information on its benefits and contributions to rural household. The main objective of this study is to investigate contributions of home garden to income of rural households in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, formerly Nkonkobe Local Municipality of Eastern Cape Province South Africa. The stratified random sampling method was applied in order to choose a sample of 160 households.The study was conducted among 80 households engaging in home gardens and 80 non- participating households in the study area. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics with the use of frequency table and one way sample T test to show actual contributions. The overall model shows that social grant has the highest contribution to total household income for both categories while income generated from home garden has the second largest share to total household income, this shows that the majority of rural households in the study area rely on social grant as their source of income. However, since most households are net food buyers, it is essential to have policies that are formulated with an understanding that household food security is not only a function of the food that farming households produce for their own consumption but more so a function of total household income. The results produced sufficient evidence that home gardens contribute significantly to income of rural household.

Keywords: food security, home gardening, household, income

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13853 Assessing Perinatal Mental Illness during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of Measurement Tools

Authors: Mya Achike

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Background and Significance: Perinatal mental illness covers a wide range of conditions and has a huge influence on maternal-child health. Issues and challenges with perinatal mental health have been associated with poor pregnancy, birth, and postpartum outcomes. It is estimated that one out of five new and expectant mothers experience some degree of perinatal mental illness, which makes this a hugely significant health outcome. Certain factors increase the maternal risk for mental illness. Challenges related to poverty, migration, extreme stress, exposure to violence, emergency and conflict situations, natural disasters, and pandemics can exacerbate mental health disorders. It is widely expected that perinatal mental health is being negatively affected during the present COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A review of studies that reported a measurement tool to assess perinatal mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar were used to search for peer-reviewed studies published after late 2019, in accordance with the emergence of the virus. The search resulted in the inclusion of ten studies. Approach to measure health outcome: The main approach to measure perinatal mental illness is the use of self-administered, validated questionnaires, usually in the clinical setting. Summary: Widespread use of these tools has afforded the clinical and research communities the ability to identify and support women who may be suffering from mental illness disorders during a pandemic. More research is needed to validate tools in other vulnerable, perinatal populations.

Keywords: mental health during covid, perinatal mental health, perinatal mental health measurement tools, perinatal mental health tools

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13852 Numerical Simulations of Acoustic Imaging in Hydrodynamic Tunnel with Model Adaptation and Boundary Layer Noise Reduction

Authors: Sylvain Amailland, Jean-Hugh Thomas, Charles Pézerat, Romuald Boucheron, Jean-Claude Pascal

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The noise requirements for naval and research vessels have seen an increasing demand for quieter ships in order to fulfil current regulations and to reduce the effects on marine life. Hence, new methods dedicated to the characterization of propeller noise, which is the main source of noise in the far-field, are needed. The study of cavitating propellers in closed-section is interesting for analyzing hydrodynamic performance but could involve significant difficulties for hydroacoustic study, especially due to reverberation and boundary layer noise in the tunnel. The aim of this paper is to present a numerical methodology for the identification of hydroacoustic sources on marine propellers using hydrophone arrays in a large hydrodynamic tunnel. The main difficulties are linked to the reverberation of the tunnel and the boundary layer noise that strongly reduce the signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper it is proposed to estimate the reflection coefficients using an inverse method and some reference transfer functions measured in the tunnel. This approach allows to reduce the uncertainties of the propagation model used in the inverse problem. In order to reduce the boundary layer noise, a cleaning algorithm taking advantage of the low rank and sparse structure of the cross-spectrum matrices of the acoustic and the boundary layer noise is presented. This approach allows to recover the acoustic signal even well under the boundary layer noise. The improvement brought by this method is visible on acoustic maps resulting from beamforming and DAMAS algorithms.

Keywords: acoustic imaging, boundary layer noise denoising, inverse problems, model adaptation

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13851 Supervised Machine Learning Approach for Studying the Effect of Different Joint Sets on Stability of Mine Pit Slopes Under the Presence of Different External Factors

Authors: Sudhir Kumar Singh, Debashish Chakravarty

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Slope stability analysis is an important aspect in the field of geotechnical engineering. It is also important from safety, and economic point of view as any slope failure leads to loss of valuable lives and damage to property worth millions. This paper aims at mitigating the risk of slope failure by studying the effect of different joint sets on the stability of mine pit slopes under the influence of various external factors, namely degree of saturation, rainfall intensity, and seismic coefficients. Supervised machine learning approach has been utilized for making accurate and reliable predictions regarding the stability of slopes based on the value of Factor of Safety. Numerous cases have been studied for analyzing the stability of slopes using the popular Finite Element Method, and the data thus obtained has been used as training data for the supervised machine learning models. The input data has been trained on different supervised machine learning models, namely Random Forest, Decision Tree, Support vector Machine, and XGBoost. Distinct test data that is not present in training data has been used for measuring the performance and accuracy of different models. Although all models have performed well on the test dataset but Random Forest stands out from others due to its high accuracy of greater than 95%, thus helping us by providing a valuable tool at our disposition which is neither computationally expensive nor time consuming and in good accordance with the numerical analysis result.

Keywords: finite element method, geotechnical engineering, machine learning, slope stability

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13850 Causes, Consequences, and Alternative Strategies of Illegal Migration in Ethiopia: The Case of Tigray Region

Authors: Muuz Abraha Meshesha

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Illegal Migration, specifically Trafficking in person is one of the primary issues of the day affecting all states of the world with variation on the extent of the root causes and consequences that led people to migrate irregularly and the consequences it is costing on humanity. This paper intends to investigate the root causes and consequences of illegal migration in Ethiopia’s Tigray Regional state and come up with alternative intervening strategy. To come up with pertinent and robust research finding, this study employed mixed research approach involving qualitative and quantitative data in line with purposive and snow ball sampling selection technique. The study revealed that, though poverty is the most commonly sensed pushing factor for people to illegally migrate, the issue of psycho-social orientation and attitudinal immersion of the local community for illegal migration, both in thinking and action is the most pressing problem that urges serious intervention. Trafficking in persons and Illegal migration in general, is becoming the norm of the day in the study area that overtly reveal illegal migration is an issue beyond livelihood securing demand in practice. Basically, parties engaged in illegal migration and the accomplice with human traffickers these days in the study area are found to be more than urgency for food security and a need to escape from livelihood impoverishment. Therefore, this study come up with a new paradigm insight indicating that illegal migration is believed by the local community members as an optional path way of doing business in illegal way while the attitude of the community and officials authorized to regulate is being part of the channel or to the least tolerant of this grave global danger. The study also found that the effect of illegal migration is significantly manifested in long run than in short term periods. Therefore, a need for critical consideration on attitudinal based intervention and youth oriented and enforceable legal and policy framework accountability framework is required to face and control illegal migration by international, national, local stakeholders. Besides this, economy based development interventions that could engage and reorient the youth, as primary victims of trafficking, and expansion of large scale projects that can employ large number of youths at a time.

Keywords: human traficking, illegal migration, migration, tigray region

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13849 Advancing Entrepreneurial Knowledge Through Re-Engineering Social Studies Education

Authors: Chukwuka Justus Iwegbu, Monye Christopher Prayer

Abstract:

Propeller aircraft engines, and more generally engines with a large rotating part (turboprops, high bypass ratio turbojets, etc.) are widely used in the industry and are subject to numerous developments in order to reduce their fuel consumption. In this context, unconventional architectures such as open rotors or distributed propulsion appear, and it is necessary to consider the influence of these systems on the aircraft's stability in flight. Indeed, the tendency to lengthen the blades and wings on which these propulsion devices are fixed increases their flexibility and accentuates the risk of whirl flutter. This phenomenon of aeroelastic instability is due to the precession movement of the axis of rotation of the propeller, which changes the angle of attack of the flow on the blades and creates unsteady aerodynamic forces and moments that can amplify the motion and make it unstable. The whirl flutter instability can ultimately lead to the destruction of the engine. We note the existence of a critical speed of the incident flow. If the flow velocity is lower than this value, the motion is damped and the system is stable, whereas beyond this value, the flow provides energy to the system (negative damping) and the motion becomes unstable. A simple model of whirl flutter is based on the work of Houbolt & Reed who proposed an analytical expression of the aerodynamic load on a rigid blade propeller whose axis orientation suffers small perturbations. Their work considered a propeller subjected to pitch and yaw movements, a flow undisturbed by the blades and a propeller not generating any thrust in the absence of precession. The unsteady aerodynamic forces were then obtained using the thin airfoil theory and the strip theory. In the present study, the unsteady aerodynamic loads are expressed for a general movement of the propeller (not only pitch and yaw). The acceleration and rotation of the flow by the propeller are modeled using a Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) approach, which also enable to take into account the thrust generated by the blades. It appears that the thrust has a stabilizing effect. The aerodynamic model is further developed using Theodorsen theory. A reduced order model of the aerodynamic load is finally constructed in order to perform linear stability analysis.

Keywords: advancing, entrepreneurial, knowledge, industralization

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13848 Approach to Establish Logistics as a Central Scientific Discipline of Tomorrow's Industry

Authors: Johannes Dregger, Michael Schmidt, Christian Prasse, Michael ten Hompel

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Most of the today’s companies face increasing need to operate efficiently. Driven by global trends like shorter product cycles, mass customization and the rising speed of delivery, manufacturing value chains are becoming more and more distributed. Manufacturing processes are becoming highly integrated, e.g. 3D printing. All these changes are affecting companies´ organization. They are leading towards individual, small scale, and ad-hoc logistics processes and structures, and finally, towards a significant increase in the importance of logistics itself since traditional value chains transform into agile value networks. In the past logistics has been following manufacturing but in the future industry, this role allocation might change. With this increase in the logistics practice of companies and businesses, the relevance of logistics research as the methodological foundation of logistics networks and processes is gaining importance. Logistics research is evolving into a central and highly interdisciplinary science for the future industry. Using the example of Germany, this paper discusses ways to establish logistics as a central scientific discipline of the future industry. About three million people work in the logistics sector in Germany. Only automotive and retail industry have more employees. Even though there is a bunch of logistics degree programs at more than 100 institutions of higher education, a common understanding of logistics as a research discipline is missing. In this paper an innovative approach will be presented, including; identified perspectives on logistics, such as process orientation, IT orientation or employees orientation, relevant scientific disciplines for logistics science, a concept for interdisciplinary research approaches to unify the perspectives of the different scientific disciplines on logistics and the methodological base of logistics science.

Keywords: logistics, logistics science, logistics management, future challenges

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13847 A Tool for Facilitating an Institutional Risk Profile Definition

Authors: Roman Graf, Sergiu Gordea, Heather M. Ryan

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This paper presents an approach for the easy creation of an institutional risk profile for endangerment analysis of file formats. The main contribution of this work is the employment of data mining techniques to support risk factors set up with just the most important values that are important for a particular organisation. Subsequently, the risk profile employs fuzzy models and associated configurations for the file format metadata aggregator to support digital preservation experts with a semi-automatic estimation of endangerment level for file formats. Our goal is to make use of a domain expert knowledge base aggregated from a digital preservation survey in order to detect preservation risks for a particular institution. Another contribution is support for visualisation and analysis of risk factors for a requried dimension. The proposed methods improve the visibility of risk factor information and the quality of a digital preservation process. The presented approach is meant to facilitate decision making for the preservation of digital content in libraries and archives using domain expert knowledge and automatically aggregated file format metadata from linked open data sources. To facilitate decision-making, the aggregated information about the risk factors is presented as a multidimensional vector. The goal is to visualise particular dimensions of this vector for analysis by an expert. The sample risk profile calculation and the visualisation of some risk factor dimensions is presented in the evaluation section.

Keywords: digital information management, file format, endangerment analysis, fuzzy models

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13846 Buddhism and Innovative Sustainable Development

Authors: Sraman Sree Mattananda

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This present article is an analytical research on ‘Buddhism and Innovative Sustainable Development.' The main purpose of researching is to the better understanding of many social science theories both in politics and in economics. And the understanding of both Buddhism and science is complementary in order to enable any individual to live a full and meaningful human life. How people can avoid conflict, socially, economically, politically and spiritually using Buddhist teachings for a sustainable development. The aim of studying is also to comprehend every human to be aware that peoples’ happiness and sorrow depends on the choices that they had taken to do what was perceptional right and wrong. Everything that happens does have a reason. This study will be supported by the supply of environmental knowledge, philosophy, and experience. Within the domestic and international cultures, this knowledge might provide a significant basis for the contemporary and the future world. Happiness and unsatisfactoriness of mind depend on the consequences of what we had already done. This is to give deep sense to adjust the nature of all that exists and desire not to attach to them and to liberate oneself leaving the reality as it is. An implicit of references will be drawn from the primary sources, secondary sources, internet sources, and other Scholar’s diamond writings, to prove the investigation of philosophical and theoretical analysis. After the investigation of philosophical and theoretical analysis, the article will demonstrate about, what Buddha advised the follows to stop over-exploitation and how to eradicate conflicts to gain a peaceful society. This will be a lively awareness in the approach to the understanding of the Buddhist view of reality and adopt with middle path. The last part of the article will concern with the Buddhist Challenge of sustaining the society and how Buddhist contemporary scholars interpret sustainable development issues. Mahatma Gandhi’s emphasize to use Buddhist Non-Violence will be demonstrating to gain peace, freedom, and security. Twelve things that concern us when we want to explore the issues of sustainability, demonstrated by A Little Book of Hope will be cleared. How individual hearts can implicate to the contemporary globe will be demonstrated to obtain healthy and practical environment. Finally, generating new awareness and care by minimizing the negative impact on earth resources will reduce the degradation of the planet which would pose a challenge to sustain Development.

Keywords: Buddhism, economic, sustainable development, Buddhist ethics

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13845 Entrepreneurship Education as an Enhancement of Skills for Graduate Employability: The Case of the University of Buea

Authors: Akumeyam Elvis Akum, Njanjo Thecla Anyongo Mukete, Fonkeng George Epah

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Globally, the goal of higher education is to enhance graduate employability skills. Paradoxically, Cameroon’s graduate employability rate is far below the graduation rate. This worrisome situation caused the researcher to hypothesize that the teaching and learning experiences account for this increasing disparity. The study sought to investigate the effect on graduate employability of the teaching of organizational, problem-solving, innovation, and risk management skills on graduate employability. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a quantitative approach. Data was collected by quantitative techniques from a random sample of 385 graduates using closed-ended structured questionnaire. Generally, findings revealed that entrepreneurship education does not sufficiently enhance graduate employability in the University of Buea. Specifically, the teaching of organizational skills does not significantly enhance their employability, as an average of 55% of graduates indicated that the course did not sufficiently help them develop skills for planning, management of limited resources, collaboration, and the setting of priorities. Also, 60% of the respondents indicated that the teaching of problem-solving skills does not significantly enhance graduate employability at the University of Buea. Contrarily, 57% of the respondents agreed that through their experiences in entrepreneurship education, their innovation skills were improved. The study recommended that a practical approach to teaching should be adopted, with attention to societal needs. A framework to ensure the teaching of entrepreneurship to students at the undergraduate level is recommended, such that those who do not continue with university studies after their Bachelor’s degree would have acquired the needed skills for employability.

Keywords: employability, entrepreneurship education, graduate, innovative skills, organizational skills, problem-solving skills, risk management skills

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13844 From Servicescape to Servicespace: Qualitative Research in a Post-Cartesian Retail Context

Authors: Chris Houliez

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This study addresses the complex dynamics of the modern retail environment, focusing on how the ubiquitous nature of mobile communication technologies has reshaped the shopper experience and tested the limits of the conventional "servicescape" concept commonly used to describe retail experiences. The objective is to redefine the conceptualization of retail space by introducing an approach to space that aligns with a retail context where physical and digital interactions are increasingly intertwined. To offer a more shopper-centric understanding of the retail experience, this study draws from phenomenology, particularly Henri Lefebvre’s work on the production of space. The presented protocol differs from traditional methodologies by not making assumptions about what constitutes a retail space. Instead, it adopts a perspective based on Lefebvre’s seminal work, which posits that space is not a three-dimensional container commonly referred to as “servicescape” but is actively produced through shoppers’ spatial practices. This approach allows for an in-depth exploration of the retail experience by capturing the everyday spatial practices of shoppers without preconceived notions of what constitutes a retail space. The designed protocol was tested with eight participants during 209 hours of day-long field trips, immersing the researcher into the shopper's lived experience by combining multiple data collection methods, including participant observation, videography, photography, and both pre-fieldwork and post-fieldwork interviews. By giving equal importance to both locations and connections, this study unpacked various spatial practices that contribute to the production of retail space. These findings highlight the relative inadequacy of some traditional retail space conceptualizations, which often fail to capture the fluid nature of contemporary shopping experiences. The study's emphasis on the customization process, through which shoppers optimize their retail experience by producing a “fully lived retail space,” offers a more comprehensive understanding of consumer shopping behavior in the digital age. In conclusion, this research presents a significant shift in the conceptualization of retail space. By employing a phenomenological approach rooted in Lefebvre’s theory, the study provides a more efficient framework to understand the retail experience in the age of mobile communication technologies. Although this research is limited by its small sample size and the demographic profile of participants, it offers valuable insights into the spatial practices of modern shoppers and their implications for retail researchers and retailers alike.

Keywords: shopper behavior, mobile telecommunication technologies, qualitative research, servicescape, servicespace

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13843 Damping Optimal Design of Sandwich Beams Partially Covered with Damping Patches

Authors: Guerich Mohamed, Assaf Samir

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The application of viscoelastic materials in the form of constrained layers in mechanical structures is an efficient and cost-effective technique for solving noise and vibration problems. This technique requires a design tool to select the best location, type, and thickness of the damping treatment. This paper presents a finite element model for the vibration of beams partially or fully covered with a constrained viscoelastic damping material. The model is based on Bernoulli-Euler theory for the faces and Timoshenko beam theory for the core. It uses four variables: the through-thickness constant deflection, the axial displacements of the faces, and the bending rotation of the beam. The sandwich beam finite element is compatible with the conventional C1 finite element for homogenous beams. To validate the proposed model, several free vibration analyses of fully or partially covered beams, with different locations of the damping patches and different percent coverage, are studied. The results show that the proposed approach can be used as an effective tool to study the influence of the location and treatment size on the natural frequencies and the associated modal loss factors. Then, a parametric study regarding the variation in the damping characteristics of partially covered beams has been conducted. In these studies, the effect of core shear modulus value, the effect of patch size variation, the thickness of constraining layer, and the core and the locations of the patches are considered. In partial coverage, the spatial distribution of additive damping by using viscoelastic material is as important as the thickness and material properties of the viscoelastic layer and the constraining layer. Indeed, to limit added mass and to attain maximum damping, the damping patches should be placed at optimum locations. These locations are often selected using the modal strain energy indicator. Following this approach, the damping patches are applied over regions of the base structure with the highest modal strain energy to target specific modes of vibration. In the present study, a more efficient indicator is proposed, which consists of placing the damping patches over regions of high energy dissipation through the viscoelastic layer of the fully covered sandwich beam. The presented approach is used in an optimization method to select the best location for the damping patches as well as the material thicknesses and material properties of the layers that will yield optimal damping with the minimum area of coverage.

Keywords: finite element model, damping treatment, viscoelastic materials, sandwich beam

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13842 Working With Accessibility in Latvian Contemporary Art: Research, Barriers, and Implementation From a Curator’s and Production Manager’s Perspective

Authors: Agnese Zviedre

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In 2010 Latvia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states that the state will recognize the importance of accessibility to the physical, social, and cultural environment. Nevertheless, accessibility of art and culture in Latvia has become a focal point only since 2020. A study on the impact of cultural consumption and participation done by the Latvian Academy of Culture and the research center “SKDS” results show that art and cultural institutions lack knowledge and understanding of needs and required accessibility measures for people with disabilities to participate in cultural and art events. At the same time, even if art institutions want to create accessible events for people with diverse bodies and minds, many barriers exist, such as budget, lack of time, and lack of knowledge. Even though disability is still largely invisible in the public space, due to recent public campaigns and awareness of the need for accessibility, the media and society are starting to speak about disability as a social issue, not a medical one. Thus, this paper focuses on the first-hand experience of implementing different Western accessibility guidelines and working with communities as a production manager for the multidisciplinary exhibition project “Invisible Lives” in Riga and curator of the education program of Riga Photography Biennial’s 2022 Central Event - Exhibition “Screen Age III: Still Life”. Analyzing two events from the Disability studies perspective, this paper focuses on working with existing knowledge and budget to achieve accessibility.

Keywords: accessibility, contemporary art, curatorial practices, disability studies

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13841 Emerging Barriers And Enablers Of Digital Inclusion For Students With Disabilities In Ethiopian Education

Authors: Merih Welay Welesilassie

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This research investigated the factors influencing digital inclusion for young students with disabilities in Ethiopian schools. In this context, socio-economic, infrastructural, and cultural challenges amplify educational disparities. In the era of digital technology's pivotal role in education, it is crucial to ensure equitable access for students with disabilities. Nevertheless, obstacles like inadequate infrastructure, insufficient teacher training, and economic constraints impede the incorporation of digital tools in educational environments, especially for marginalised groups. This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach involving data collection through a survey administered to 300 students. Subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 participants to provide comprehensive insights into their experiences. The quantitative analysis uncovered that students with disabilities have limited support for digital readiness, find digital technologies less accessible, and perceive digital tools as less easy to use. The study revealed that economic barriers, such as the high cost of devices and limited internet access, prevent students from fully utilising digital resources. Furthermore, infrastructural challenges, such as unreliable electricity and poor internet connectivity, exacerbate the issue. The qualitative data provided a more profound understanding by emphasising social and attitudinal obstacles, including a lack of empathy from both peers and educators, exclusion from participatory digital tasks, and enduring negative stereotypes regarding disabilities. The research highlights the importance of implementing interventions to enhance digital accessibility for students with disabilities. Essential suggestions encompass refining teacher training programs to effectively facilitate inclusive education, improving digital infrastructure, and offering financial assistance to procure digital tools. Furthermore, implementing policy reforms and public awareness campaigns is crucial to cultivate a cultural shift and nurture a more inclusive societal atmosphere. This study yields valuable perspectives on the digital inclusion scenario in Ethiopia, laying the groundwork for prospective research endeavours to narrow the digital gap for students with disabilities.

Keywords: digital inclussion, students with disabilities, ethiopian education, barries and access

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13840 The Evolution of Moral Politics: Analysis on Moral Foundations of Korean Parties

Authors: Changdong Oh

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With the arrival of post-industrial society, social scientists have been giving attention to issues of which factors shape cleavage of political parties. Especially, there is a heated controversy over whether and how social and cultural values influence the identities of parties and voting behavior. Drawing from Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), which approached similar issues by considering the effect of five moral foundations on political decision-making of people, this study investigates the role of moral rhetoric in the evolution of Korean political parties. Researcher collected official announcements released by the major two parties (Democratic Party of Korea, Saenuri Party) from 2007 to 2016, and analyzed the data by using Word2Vec algorithm and Moral Foundations Dictionary. Five moral decision modules of MFT, composed of care, fairness (individualistic morality), loyalty, authority and sanctity (group-based, Durkheimian morality), can be represented in vector spaces consisted of party announcements data. By comparing the party vector and the five morality vectors, researcher can see how the political parties have actively used each of the five moral foundations to express themselves and the opposition. Results report that the conservative party tends to actively draw on collective morality such as loyalty, authority, purity to differentiate itself. Notably, such moral differentiation strategy is prevalent when they criticize an opposition party. In contrast, the liberal party tends to concern with individualistic morality such as fairness. This result indicates that moral cleavage does exist between parties in South Korea. Furthermore, individualistic moral gaps of the two political parties are eased over time, which seems to be due to the discussion of economic democratization of conservative party that emerged after 2012, but the community-related moral gaps widened. These results imply that past political cleavages related to economic interests are diminishing and replaced by cultural and social values associated with communitarian morality. However, since the conservative party’s differentiation strategy is largely related to negative campaigns, it is doubtful whether such moral differentiation among political parties can contribute to the long-term party identification of the voters, thus further research is needed to determine it is sustainable. Despite the limitations, this study makes it possible to track and identify the moral changes of party system through automated text analysis. More generally, this study could contribute to the analysis of various texts associated with the moral foundation and finding a distributed representation of moral, ethical values.

Keywords: moral foundations theory, moral politics, party system, Word2Vec

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13839 Training 'Green Ambassadors' in the Community-Action Learning Course

Authors: Friman Hen, Banner Ifaa, Shalom-Tuchin Bosmat, Einav Yulia

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The action learning course is an academic course which involves academic learning and social activities. The courses deal with processes and social challenges, reveal different ideologies, and develop critical thinking and pragmatic ideas. Students receive course credits and a grade for being part of such courses. Participating students enroll in courses that involve action and activities to engage in the experiential learning process, thereby creating a dialogue and cross-fertilization between being taught in the classroom and experiencing the reality in the real world. A learning experience includes meeting with social organizations, institutions, and state authorities and carrying out practical work with diverse populations. Through experience, students strengthen their academic skills, formulate ethical attitudes toward reality, develop professional and civilian perspectives, and realize how they can influence their surrounding in the present and the hereafter. Under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Hen Friman, H.I.T. has built an innovative course that combines action and activities to increase the awareness and accessibility of the community in an experiential way. The end goal is to create Green Ambassadors—children with a high level of environmental awareness. This course is divided into two parts. The first part, focused on frontal teaching, delivers knowledge from extensive environmental fields to students. These areas include introduction to ecology, the process of electricity generation, air pollution, renewable energy, water economy, waste and recycling, and energy efficiency (first stage). In addition to the professional content in the environment field, students learn the method of effective and experiential teaching to younger learners (4 to 8 years old). With the attainment of knowledge, students are divided into operating groups. The second part of the course shows how the theory becomes practical and concrete. At this stage, students are asked to introduce to the first- and second-graders of ‘Revivim’ School in Holon a lesson of 90 minutes focused on presenting the issues and their importance during the course (second stage). This course is the beginning of a paradigm shift regarding energy usage in the modern society in Israel. The objective of the course is to expand worldwide and train the first and second-graders, and even pre-schoolers, in a wide scope to increase population awareness rate, both in Israel and all over the world, for a green future.

Keywords: air pollution, green ambassador, recycling, renewable energy

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13838 Gender issues in Law and society in India

Authors: Sunil Gaikwad

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Gender discrimination is a very prevalent and much used word in the legal parlance. , The more socially, culturally, economically and educationally backward the community, the more gender discrimination is seen there. Gender discrimination is a worldwide Phenomena. In India it was more prevalent, due to illiteracy, bad social and religious customs. in Indian family system male child is considered as inheritor of the family clan, support for parents in their old age and girls as the property of others and unnecessary load on parents and on property as the dowry has to be give at her marriage as also some festivals like Raksha Bandhan and Bhau Teej during Deepawali (wherein having brother is compulsory)insist on having a male child in the family, hence most couples try to give birth only to male child at the cost of female child, hence the female feticide was going on a large scale due to which, sex ratio had considerably decreased creating problem for geeting groom for bride groom thereby putting question mark on family system. To redo the damage done to the society due to the female feticide Government of India has enacted various Laws and introduced various welfare schemes for the upliftment of girl child and also launched countrywide awareness campaign to create awareness among people about the importance of girl child and punitive laws for infanticide which is now bearing fruits but still cases of female feticide are coming fore. There is an urgent need to go to the roots of the problem and to find practicable and effective legal and social measures to overcome this issue, and the purpose of this research paper is the same. The research paper discusses in detail the reasons and superstitions that are responsible for the gender discriminations and comes out with effective measures including necessary and effective changes in the existing Laws, effective awareness campaign against religious superstitions for gender equality. For this research paper doctrinal research methodology is used to drive the research to its logical conclusion, for which various primary and secondary sources literature has been perused and studied. It is worth noting that while working on the paper suggestions and recommendations and conclusions have been drawn where it is suggested and concluded that there is an urgent need to re think about the festivals which encourages gender discriminations, to sensitize and create ample of awareness among people by effectively utilizing Radio, Television, Social Media folk arts, public shows and to make existing laws more effective and strict implementation for the purpose and zero tolerance for female feticide.

Keywords: awareness, effective laws, female foeticide, festivals, superstitions

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13837 Wheat Cluster Farming Approach: Challenges and Prospects for Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia

Authors: Hanna Mamo Ergando

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Climate change is already having a severe influence on agriculture, affecting crop yields, the nutritional content of main grains, and livestock productivity. Significant adaptation investments will be necessary to sustain existing yields and enhance production and food quality to fulfill demand. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) provides numerous potentials in this regard, combining a focus on enhancing agricultural output and incomes while also strengthening resilience and responding to climate change. To improve agriculture production and productivity, the Ethiopian government has adopted and implemented a series of strategies, including the recent agricultural cluster farming that is practiced as an effort to change, improve, and transform subsistence farming to modern, productive, market-oriented, and climate-smart approach through farmers production cluster. Besides, greater attention and focus have been given to wheat production and productivity by the government, and wheat is the major crop grown in cluster farming. Therefore, the objective of this assessment was to examine various opportunities and challenges farmers face in a cluster farming system. A qualitative research approach was used to generate primary and secondary data. Respondents were chosen using the purposeful sampling technique. Accordingly, experts from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute, and the Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority were interviewed. The assessment result revealed that farming in clusters is an economically viable technique for sustaining small, resource-limited, and socially disadvantaged farmers' agricultural businesses. The method assists farmers in consolidating their products and delivering them in bulk to save on transportation costs while increasing income. Smallholders' negotiating power has improved as a result of cluster membership, as has knowledge and information spillover. The key challenges, on the other hand, were identified as a lack of timely provision of modern inputs, insufficient access to credit services, conflict of interest in crop selection, and a lack of output market for agro-processing firms. Furthermore, farmers in the cluster farming approach grow wheat year after year without crop rotation or diversification techniques. Mono-cropping has disadvantages because it raises the likelihood of disease and insect outbreaks. This practice may result in long-term consequences, including soil degradation, reduced biodiversity, and economic risk for farmers. Therefore, the government must devote more resources to addressing the issue of environmental sustainability. Farmers' access to complementary services that promote production and marketing efficiencies through infrastructure and institutional services has to be improved. In general, the assessment begins with some hint that leads to a deeper study into the efficiency of the strategy implementation, upholding existing policy, and scaling up good practices in a sustainable and environmentally viable manner.

Keywords: cluster farming, smallholder farmers, wheat, challenges, opportunities

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13836 Elements of Critical Event Management: A Qualitative Study of Trauma Teams

Authors: Tan Xin Zhong Timothy, Chang Chen Jie Victor, Yew Kwan Tong, Lim Geok Peng Sandy

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Background: Leaders in crisis response teams such as Trauma Teams in hospitals are essential to the effective coordination and direction of the team. The response to emergency trauma situations must be accurate, rapid, and well executed. To this end, the team leader’s social, technical and leadership skills are essential factors that implicate the success of an emergency trauma intervention. While each emergency trauma case varies in severity and complexity, and the experience and expertise of team leaders may vary, it would be productive to identify certain coordinative and directive functions that improve the capacity for leading a team. Methods: This qualitative study of Trauma Team physicians in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) involved 50 in-depth interviews with doctors and nurses involved in Trauma Team activations, observations of Trauma Teams managing emergency patients, and reviews of audio/video recordings of 65 trauma activations. The interviews were conducted with doctors of various ranks across the relevant departments, 12 from the Emergency Department (ED), 11 from General Surgery (GS) and 8 from Orthopaedics, while the 6 nurses were from ED. In accordance with the grounded theory approach, the content of the interviews was coded and analysed in order to derive broad leadership themes that corresponded with certain behavioural traits exhibited by trauma team leaders, supplemented with the observational and audio/video data. Results: The leadership behaviours of the team leaders could be typified into three broad categories: team orientation, engagement and activeness. Team orientation corresponds with the source and form of cognitive responsibility, decision-making and informational contributions, divisible into individualistic and consultative sub-categories. Engagement refers to the type of activity that leaders prefer to engage in, and which implicates their attentional focus, divisible into participatory and supervisory sub-categories. Activeness is a function of the leader’s attitudes towards the behavioural regulation of the team, which manifests in inactivity or activity to augment or merely align with protocol. These factors are not exhaustive and are contextually sensitive, but collectively implicate a significant portion of the leadership activity observed in trauma teams.

Keywords: trauma team activations, critical event management, leadership, teamwork

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13835 Differential Impact of Parenting on Mental Health Functioning of Pakistani Adolescents: A Cultural Perspective

Authors: Zahid Mahmood

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Mental health problems in adolescents are said to be increasing tremendously, and a large proportion of adolescents are suffering from serious mental health problems that result in short and long term socio-emotional negative consequences. Contemporary clinical and school psychology is now focused on prevention rather than intervene in the mental health concerns of adolescents. Therefore, a wealth of literature is devoted to identify the risk and protective factors so that adolescents may be prevented and identified earlier. This quest has led to identify many risk factors including the early parent-child relationship. Parenting has a long last impact on the growth and development of an individual. If the parent-child relationship is secure and warm, the child tends to have a positive psychological outcome. On the other hand, if parenting is rejecting and distant, it may lead to more mental health problems. Keeping in view the cross-cultural influence of parenting, the current study was aimed to explore the relationship between parental rearing practices and mental health problems on a group of Pakistani adolescents. A sample of 805 participants (49% boys and 51% girls) were selected through a stratified sample with the age range of 13-18 years. All the participants were given protocol of EMBU-C and School Children Problem Scale (SCPS). Results indicate that age, the gender of the participant and parental rejection were found to be a significant positive predictor of mental health problems in adolescents. It can be concluded that parenting may be a universal phenomenon comprising rejection and acceptance yet the differential impact on mental health varies from culture to culture.

Keywords: parenting, mental health, adolescents, cross cultural

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13834 The Art of Contemporary Arabic Calligraphy in Oman: Salman Alhajri as an Example

Authors: Salman Amur Alhajri

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Purpose: This paper explores the art of contemporary Arabic calligraphy in Oman. It explains the aesthetic features of Arabic calligraphy as a unique icon of Islamic art. This paper also explores the profile of one Omani artist, Salman Alhajri, as an example of Omani artists who have developed unique styles in this art stream. Methodology and approach: The paper is based on a theoretical study using a descriptive and case-study approach. Omani artists are fascinated by the art forms of Arabic calligraphy, which combine both spiritual meaning and aesthetic beauty. Artist Salman Alhajri is an example of a contemporary Arabic artist who uses Arabic calligraphy as the main theme in his art. Dr. Alhajri is trying to introduce the beauty of Arabic letters from a new aesthetic point of view. He also aims to create unusual visual effects that viewers can easily interact with. Even though words and phrases appear in Alhajri’s artwork, they are not conveying direct meanings: viewers can create their own meaning or expressions from them by appreciating the compositions of the artwork. Results: Arabic writing is directly related to the identity of Omani artists and their cultural background. This paper shows how the beauty of Arabic letters comes from its indefinite possibilities in designing calligraphic expressions, even within a single word, because letters can be stretched and transformed in various ways to create different compositions. Omani artists are interested in employing new media applications in this kind of practice to find new techniques for creating artwork based on Arabic writing. It is really important for all Omani artists to practice this art style because Arabic calligraphy and its flexibility introduce infinite possibilities that involve further exploration and investigation.

Keywords: Islamic art, contemporary Arabic calligraphy, new techniques, Omani artist

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13833 Approaches to Valuing Ecosystem Services in Agroecosystems From the Perspectives of Ecological Economics and Agroecology

Authors: Sandra Cecilia Bautista-Rodríguez, Vladimir Melgarejo

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Climate change, loss of ecosystems, increasing poverty, increasing marginalization of rural communities and declining food security are global issues that require urgent attention. In this regard, a great deal of research has focused on how agroecosystems respond to these challenges as they provide ecosystem services (ES) that lead to higher levels of resilience, adaptation, productivity and self-sufficiency. Hence, the valuing of ecosystem services plays an important role in the decision-making process for the design and management of agroecosystems. This paper aims to define the link between ecosystem service valuation methods and ES value dimensions in agroecosystems from ecological economics and agroecology. The method used to identify valuation methodologies was a literature review in the fields of Agroecology and Ecological Economics, based on a strategy of information search and classification. The conceptual framework of the work is based on the multidimensionality of value, considering the social, ecological, political, technological and economic dimensions. Likewise, the valuation process requires consideration of the ecosystem function associated with ES, such as regulation, habitat, production and information functions. In this way, valuation methods for ES in agroecosystems can integrate more than one value dimension and at least one ecosystem function. The results allow correlating the ecosystem functions with the ecosystem services valued, and the specific tools or models used, the dimensions and valuation methods. The main methodologies identified are multi-criteria valuation (1), deliberative - consultative valuation (2), valuation based on system dynamics modeling (3), valuation through energy or biophysical balances (4), valuation through fuzzy logic modeling (5), valuation based on agent-based modeling (6). Amongst the main conclusions, it is highlighted that the system dynamics modeling approach has a high potential for development in valuation processes, due to its ability to integrate other methods, especially multi-criteria valuation and energy and biophysical balances, to describe through causal cycles the interrelationships between ecosystem services, the dimensions of value in agroecosystems, thus showing the relationships between the value of ecosystem services and the welfare of communities. As for methodological challenges, it is relevant to achieve the integration of tools and models provided by different methods, to incorporate the characteristics of a complex system such as the agroecosystem, which allows reducing the limitations in the processes of valuation of ES.

Keywords: ecological economics, agroecosystems, ecosystem services, valuation of ecosystem services

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13832 The ‘Accompanying Spouse Dependent Visa Status’: Challenges and Constraints Faced by Zimbabwean Immigrant Women in Integration into South Africa’s Formal Labour Market

Authors: Rujeko Samanthia Chimukuche

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Introduction: Transboundary migration at both regional and continental levels has become the defining feature of the 21st century. The recent global migration crisis due to economic strife and war brings back to the fore an old age problem, but with fresh challenges. Migration and forced displacement are issues that require long-term solutions. In South Africa, for example, whilst much attention has been placed on xenophobic attacks and other issues at the nexus of immigrant and indigenous communities, the limited focus has been placed on the integration, specifically formal labour integration of immigrant communities and the gender inequalities that are prevalent. Despite noble efforts by South Africa, hosting several immigrants, several challenges arise in integrating the migrants into society as it is often difficult to harmonize the interests of indigenous communities and those of foreign nationals. This research study has aimed to fill in the gaps by analyzing how stringent immigration and visa regulations prevent skilled migrant women spouses from employment, which often results in several societal vices, including domestic abuse, minimum or no access to important services such as healthcare, education, social welfare among others. Methods: Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed South Africa migration and labour policies in terms of mainstreaming the gender needs of skilled migrant women. Secondly, the study highlighted the migratory experiences and constraints of skilled Zimbabwean women migrant spouses in South Africa labour integration. The experiences of these women have shown the gender inequalities of the migratory policies. Thirdly, Zimbabwean women's opportunities and/or challenges in integration into the South African formal labour market were explored. Lastly, practical interventions to support the integration of skilled migrant women spouses into South Africa’s formal labour market were suggested. Findings: Key findings show that gender dynamics are pivotal in migration patterns and the mainstreaming of gender in migration policies. This study, therefore, contributed to the fields of gender and migration by examining ways in which gender rights of skilled migrant women spouses can be incorporated in labour integration policy making.

Keywords: accompanying spouse visa, gender-migration, labour-integration, Zimbabwean women

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13831 Galtung’s Violence Triangle: We Need to Be Thinking Upside Down

Authors: Michael Fusi Ligaliga

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Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), despite being a new pedagogical discipline, is a growing interdisciplinary academic field that has expanded its presence from the traditional lens of war, conflict, and violence to addressing various social issues impacting society. Family and domestic violence (FDV) has seldom been explored through the PACS lens despite some studies showing that “on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Over one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.” In the Pacific, FDV rates are some of the highest in the world. The friction caused by cultural practices reinforcing patriarchy and male impunity, compounded by historical colonial experiences, as well as the impact of Christianity on the Pacific region, creates a complex social landscape when thinking about and addressing FDV in the Pacific. This paper seeks to re-examine Johan Galtung’s violence triangle (GVT) theory and its application to understanding FDV in the Pacific. Galtung argues that there are three forms of violence – direct, structural, and cultural. Direct violence (DV) is behaviors that threaten life itself or diminishes the ability of a person to meet his or her basic needs. This form of violence is visible because it is manifested in behaviors such as killing, maiming, sexual assault, etc. Structural violence (SV) exists when people do not get equal access to goods and services (health, education, justice) that enable them to reach their full potential. When ideologies embedded in cultural norms and practices are used to justify and advocate acts of violence by shifting the moral parameters from being wrong to right or acceptable, this, according to Galtung, is referred to as Cultural violence (CV).

Keywords: direct violence, cultural violence, structural violence, indigenous peacebuilding, samoa

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13830 Unraveling Language Dynamics: A Case Study of Language in Education in Pakistan

Authors: Naseer Ahmad

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This research investigates the intricate dynamics of language policy, ideology, and the choice of educational language as a medium of instruction in rural Pakistan. Focused on addressing the complexities of language practices in underexplored educational contexts, the study employed a case study approach, analyzing interviews with education authorities, teachers, and students, alongside classroom observations in English-medium and Urdu-medium rural schools. The research underscores the significance of understanding linguistic diversity within rural communities. The analysis of interviews and classroom observations revealed that language policies in rural schools are influenced by multiple factors, including historical legacies, societal language ideologies, and government directives. The dominance of Urdu and English as the preferred languages of instruction reflected a broader language hierarchy, where regional languages are often marginalized. This language ideology perpetuates a sense of linguistic inferiority among students who primarily speak regional languages. The impact of language choices on students' learning experiences and outcomes is a central focus of the research. It became evident that while policies advocate for specific language practices, the implementation often diverges due to multifarious socio-cultural, economic, and institutional factors. This disparity significantly impacts the effectiveness of educational processes, influencing pedagogical approaches, student engagement, academic outcomes, social mobility, and language choices. Based on the findings, the study concluded that due to policy and practice gap, rural people have complex perceptions and language choices. They perceived Urdu as a national, lingua franca, cultural, easy, or low-status language. They perceived English as an international, lingua franca, modern, difficult, or high-status language. They perceived other languages as mother tongue, local, religious, or irrelevant languages. This research provided insights that are crucial for theory, policy, and practice, addressing educational inequities and inclusive language policies. It set the stage for further research and advocacy efforts in the realm of language policies in diverse educational settings.

Keywords: language-in-education policy, language ideology, educational language choice, pakistan

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13829 Populism and National Unity: A Discourse Analysis of Poverty Eradication Strategies of Three Malaysian Prime Ministers

Authors: Khairil Ahmad, Jenny Gryzelius, Mohd Helmi Mohd Sobri

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With the waning support for centrist ‘third-way’ politics across the Western world, there has been an increase in political parties and individual candidates relying on populist political discourse and rhetoric in order to capitalize on the sense of frustration apparent within the electorate. What is of note is the divergence in the discourses employed. On the one hand, there is a polarization between a growing wave of populist right-wing parties and politicians, employing a mixture of economic populism with divisive nationalistic ideals such as restricted immigration, for example, the UK’s UKIP and Donald Trump in the US. On the other hand, there are resurgent, often grassroots-led, left-wing movements and politicians, such as Podemos in Spain and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, focusing on anti-austerity measures and inclusive policies. In general, the concept of populism is often ascribed in a pejorative way. This is despite the success of populist left-wing governments across Latin America in recent times, especially in terms of reducing poverty. Nonetheless, recently, scholars such as Ernesto Laclau have tried to rethink populism as a social scientific concept which is essential in helping us make sense of contemporary political articulations. Using Laclau’s framework, this paper seeks to analyze poverty reduction policies in different iterations in the context of the tenures of three Prime Ministers of Malaysia. The first is Abdul Razak Hussein’s New Economic Policy, which focused on uplifting the economic position of Malaysia’s majority Malay population. The second is Mahathir Mohamad’s state-led neo-liberalization of the Malaysian economy, which focused on the creation of a core group of crony elites in order to spearhead economic development. The third is current Prime Minister Najib Razak’s targeted poverty eradication strategy through a focused program which directly provides benefits to recipients such as through direct cash transfers. The paper employs a discursive approach to trace elements of populism in these cases and highlight instances of how their strategies are articulated in ways that seek to appeal towards particular visions of national unity.

Keywords: discourse analysis, Malaysia, populism, poverty eradication

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13828 A Holistic Analysis of the Emergency Call: From in Situ Negotiation to Policy Frameworks and Back

Authors: Jo Angouri, Charlotte Kennedy, Shawnea Ting, David Rawlinson, Matthew Booker, Nigel Rees

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Ambulance services need to balance the large volume of emergency (999 in the UK) calls they receive (e.g., West Midlands Ambulance Service reports per day about 4,000 999 calls; about 679,000 calls per year are received in Wales), with dispatching limited resource for on-site intervention to the most critical cases. The process by which Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) decisions are made is related to risk assessment and involves the caller and call-taker as well as clinical teams negotiating risk levels on a case-by-case basis. Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS – also referred to as Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System AMPDS) are used in the UK by NHS Trusts (e.,g WAST) to process and prioritise 999 calls. MPDS / AMPDS provide structured protocols for call prioritisation and call management. Protocols/policy frameworks have not been examined before in the way we propose in our project. In more detail, the risk factors that play a role in the EMD negotiation between the caller and call-taker have been analysed in both medical and social science research. Research has focused on the structural, morphological and phonological aspects that could improve, and train, human-to-human interaction or automate risk detection, as well as the medical factors that need to be captured from the caller to inform the dispatch decision. There are two significant gaps in our knowledge that we address in our work: 1. the role of backstage clinical teams in translating the caller/call-taker interaction in their internal risk negotiation and, 2. the role of policy frameworks, protocols and regulations in the framing of institutional priorities and resource allocation. We take a multi method approach and combine the analysis of 999 calls with the analysis of policy documents. We draw on interaction analysis, corpus methodologies and thematic analysis. In this paper, we report on our preliminary findings and focus in particular on the risk factors we have identified and the relationship with the regulations that create the frame within which teams operate. We close the paper with implications of our study for providing evidence-based policy intervention and recommendations for further research.

Keywords: emergency (999) call, interaction analysis, discourse analysis, ambulance dispatch, medical discourse

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