Search results for: moral leadership

Authors: Elise Machline

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Policy instruments have been developed worldwide to reduce the energy demand of buildings. Two types of such instruments have been green building rating systems and energy efficiency standards for buildings -such as Green Star (Australia), LEED (United States, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), Energy Star (United States), and BREEAM (United Kingdom, Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). The popularity of the idea of sustainable development has allowed the actors to consider the potential value generated by the environmental performance of buildings, labeled “green value” in the literature. Sustainable performances of buildings are expected to improve their attractiveness, increasing their value. A growing number of empirical studies demonstrate that green buildings yield rental/sale premia, as well as higher occupancy rates and thus higher asset values. The results suggest that green buildings are not affordable to all and that their construction tends to have a gentrifying effect. An increasing number of countries are institutionalizing green strategies for affordable housing. In that sense, making green buildings affordable to all will depend on government policies. That research aims to investigate whether green building fosters inequality in Israel, under the banner of sustainability. The method is comparison (of the market value). This method involves comparing the green buildings sale prices with non-certified buildings of the same type that have undergone recent transactions. The “market value” is deduced from those sources by analogy. The results show that, in Israel, green building projects are usually addressed to the middle to upper classes. The green apartment’s sale premium is about 19% (comparing to non-certified dwelling). There is a link between energy and/or environmental performance and the financial value of the dwellings. Moreover, price differential is much higher than the value of energy savings. This perpetuates socio-spatial and socio-economic inequality as well as ecological vulnerability for the poor and other socially marginal groups. Moreover, there are no green affordable housings and the authorities do not subsidy green building or retrofitting.

Keywords: green building, gentrification, social housing, green value, green building certification

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Authors: Kirsi Snellman, Johannes Gartner, , Katja Upadaya

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A transition towards a future where the economy serves society so that it evolves within the safe operating space of the planet calls for fundamental changes in the way managers think, feel and act, and make decisions that relate to social and environmental issues. Sustainable decision-making in organizations are often challenging tasks characterized by trade-offs between environmental, social and financial aspects, thus often bringing forth ethical concerns. Although there have been significant developments in incorporating uncertainty into environmental decision-making and measuring constructs and dimensions in ethical behavior in organizations, the majority of sustainable decision-making models are rationalist-based. Moreover, research in psychology indicates that one’s readiness to make a decision depends on the individual’s state of mind, the feasibility of the implied change, and the compatibility of strategies and tactics of implementation. Although very informative, most of this extant research is limited in the sense that it often directs attention towards the rational instead of the emotional. Hence, little is known about the role of emotions in sustainable decision making, especially in situations where decision-makers evaluate a variety of options and use their feelings as a source of information in tackling the uncertainty. To fill this lacuna, and to embrace the uncertainty and perceived risk involved in decisions that touch upon social and environmental aspects, it is important to add emotion to the evaluation when aiming to reach the one right and good ethical decision outcome. This analysis builds on recent findings in moral psychology that associate feelings and intuitions with ethical decisions and suggests that emotions can sensitize the manager to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of alternatives if ethical concerns are present in sustainable decision making. Capturing such sensitive evaluation as triggered by intuitions, we suggest that rational justification can be complemented by using emotions as a tool to tune in to what feels right in making sustainable decisions. This analysis integrates ethical decision-making theories with recent advancements in emotion theories. It determines the conditions under which emotions play a role in sustainability decisions by contributing to a personal equilibrium in which intuition and rationality are both activated and in accord. It complements the rationalist ethics view according to which nothing fogs the mind in decision making so thoroughly as emotion, and the concept of cheater’s high that links unethical behavior with positive affect. This analysis contributes to theory with a novel theoretical model that specifies when and why managers, who are more emotional, are, in fact, more likely to make ethical decisions than those managers who are more rational. It also proposes practical advice on how emotions can convert the manager’s preferences into choices that benefit both common good and one’s own good throughout the transition towards a more sustainable future.

Keywords: emotion, ethical decision making, intuition, sustainability

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Authors: Evelyn Kropfreiter, Roland Bernhard

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There has been an increased interest in school-based whole-child development in the Austrian education system in the last few years. Although there is a consensus among academics that teachers' beliefs are an essential component of their professional competence, there are hardly any studies in the German-speaking world examining teachers' beliefs about school-based character education. To close this gap, we are conducting a mixed methods study combining qualitative interviews and a questionnaire in Austria (doctoral thesis at the University of Salzburg). In this paper, we present preliminary insights into the quantitative strand of the project. In contrast to German-speaking countries, the Anglo-Saxon world has a long tradition of explicit character education in schools. There has been a rising interest in approaches focusing on a neo-Aristotelian form of character education in England. The Jubilee Centre strongly influences the "renaissance" of papers on neo-Aristotelian character education for Character and Virtues, founded in 2012. The quantitative questionnaire study (n = 264) is an online survey of teachers and school principals conducted in four different federal states in spring 2023. Most respondents (n = 264) from lower secondary schools (AHS-Unterstufe and Mittelschule) believe that character education in schools for 10-14-year-olds is more important for society than good exam results. Many teachers state that they consider themselves prepared to promote their students' personal development and life skills through their education and to attend further training courses. However, there are many obstacles in the education system to ensure that a comprehensive education reaches the students. Many teachers state that they consider themselves prepared to promote their students' character strengths and life skills through their education and to attend further training courses. However, there are many obstacles in the education system to ensure that a comprehensive education reaches the students. Among the most cited difficulties, teachers mention the time factor associated with an overcrowded curriculum and a strong focus on performance, which often leaves them needing more time to keep an eye on nurturing the whole person. The fact that character education is not a separate subject, and its implementation needs to be monitored also makes it challenging to implement it in everyday school life. Austrian teachers prioritize moral virtues such as compassion and honesty as character strengths in everyday school life and resilience and commitment in the next place. Our results are like those reported in other studies on teacher's beliefs about character education. They indicate that Austrian teachers want to teach character in their schools but see systemic constraints such as the curriculum, in which personality roles play a subordinate role, and the focus on performance testing in the school system and the associated lack of time as obstacles to fostering more character development in students.

Keywords: character education, life skills, teachers' beliefs, virtues

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Authors: Patrice Conner

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Nanotechnologies have enormous potential to contribute to human flourishing in responsible and sustainable ways. They are rapidly developing field of science, technology and innovation. As enabling technologies, their full scope of applications is potentially very wide. Major implications are expected in many areas, e.g. healthcare, information and communication technologies, energy production and storage, materials science/chemical engineering, manufacturing, environmental protection, consumer products, etc. However, nanotechnologies are unlikely to realize their full potential unless their associated societal and ethical issues are adequately attended. Namely nanotechnologies and nanoparticles may expose humans and the environment to new health risks, possibly involving quite different mechanisms of interference with the physiology of human and environmental species. One of the building blocks of the ‘safe, integrated and responsible’ approach is standardization. Both the Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament have highlighted the importance to be attached to standardization as a means to accompany the introduction on the market of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials, and a means to facilitate the implementation of regulation. ISO and CEN have respectively started in 2005 and 2006 to deal with selected topics related to this emerging and enabling technology. In the beginning of 2010, EC DG ‘Enterprise and Industry’ addressed the mandate M/461 to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI for standardization activities regarding nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. Thus CEN/TC 352 ‘Nanotechnologies’ has been asked to take the leadership for the coordination in the execution of M/461 (46 topics to be standardized) and to contact relevant European and International Technical committees and interested stakeholders as appropriate (56 structures have been identified). Prior requests from M/461 deal with characterization and exposure of nanomaterials and any matters related to Health, Safety and Environment. Answers will be given to: - What are the structures and how they work? - Where are we right now and how work is going from now onwards? - How CEN’s work and targets deal with and interact with global matters in this field?

Keywords: characterization, environmental protection, exposure, health risks, nanotechnologies, responsible and sustainable ways, safety

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Authors: Onesmus Nyaude

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The aim of the study was to investigate participants’ views on how corruption can be combated to enhance learner academic achievement. The study was undertaken on three select public secondary institutions in Zimbabwe. This study also focuses on exploring the various views of educators; parents and the learners on the role played by corruption in perpetuating the seemingly existing learner academic achievement disparities in various educational institutions. The study further interrogates and examines the nexus between the prevalence of corruption in schools and the subsequent influence on the academic achievement of learners. Corruption is considered a form of social injustice; hence in Zimbabwe, the general consensus is that it is perceived rife to the extent that it is overtaking the traditional factors that contributed to the poor academic achievement of learners. Coupled to this, have been the issue of gross abuse of power and some malpractices emanating from concealment of essential and official transactions in the conduct of business. Through proposing robust anti-corruption mechanisms, teaching and learning resources poured in schools would be put into good use. This would prevent the unlawful diversion and misappropriation of the resources in question which has always been the culture. This study is of paramount significance to curriculum planners, teachers, parents, and learners. The study was informed by the interpretive paradigm; thus qualitative research approaches were used. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were adopted in ‘site and participants’ selection. A representative sample of (150) participants was used. The study found that the majority of the participants perceived corruption as a social problem and a human right threat affecting the quality of teaching and learning processes in the education sector. It was established that corruption prevalence within institutions is as a result of the perpetual weakening of ethical values and other variables linked to upholding of ‘Ubuntu’ among general citizenry. It was further established that greediness and weak systems are major causes of rampant corruption within institutions of higher learning and are manifesting through abuse of power, bribery, misappropriation and embezzlement of material and financial resources. Therefore, there is great need to collectively address the problem of corruption in educational institutions and society at large. The study additionally concludes that successful combating of corruption will promote successful moral development of students as well as safeguarding their human rights entitlements. The study recommends the adoption of principles of good corporate governance within educational institutions in order to successfully curb corruption. The study further recommends the intensification of interventionist strategies and strengthening of systems in educational institutions as well as regular audits to overcome the problem associated with rampant corruption cases.

Keywords: academic achievement, combating, corruption, good corporate governance, qualitative study

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Authors: Norhan Anwar Elshikh

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The study aimed to identify the extent of rural women’s awareness of gender issues and discrimination against women. The study also investigated the relationship between the extent of that awareness and the social and economic characteristics of the surveyed women. The study aimed to find both the related factors and the affecting factors of the surveyed women's awareness of gender issues and the discrimination against them. The study then proposed some recommendations that can raise rural women's ability to understand gender issues and discrimination against women. To achieve the study goals, a field study was conducted in the Al-Buhaira governorate. Abu Homs township was chosen as one of the traditional rural areas closest in its characteristics to most rural areas in Egypt, and the Abu Homs township consists of one town and seven rural local units. The local unit of Baraka Ghattas was chosen, as it is considered on average level in human development. Baraka Ghattas local unit includes five villages. Alherfah village and Barakat Ghatas village were chosen to conduct the study as they represent the high and the low levels of human development, respectively. The study included households of women who were in their fertile period in the sample’s villages. The volume of the sample was divided among the two villages according to the number of families in each village, so that each village is represented in the sample space by the same percentage of its presence in the original community. The size of the sample was determined, which is 385 women, According to the Crijsey and Morgen equation. To execute the study, a questionnaire was designed and collected through personal interviews. The results showed that the independent variables most influencing the dependent variable are, from high to low, the economic level of the respondent's family, the number of children of the respondent, the level of formal education of the husband, then leadership ability and the level of ambition, respectively. These variables are responsible for explaining 52% of the change in the extent of rural women's awareness of gender issues and discrimination against women. The study was concluded by providing suggestions and recommendations to improve rural women's awareness of gender issues and discrimination against women.

Keywords: gender, rural women, discrimination, discrimination against women

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Authors: Jakub Vávra, Milan Valenta, Petr Kosek

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This article presents a perspective on the conduct of the dramatherapy process with persons with addictive behaviours with regard to the directiveness of the process. Although drama therapy as one of the creative arts approaches is rather non-directive in nature, depending on the clientele, there may be a need to structure the process more and, depending on the needs of the clients, to guide the process more directive. The specificity for people with addictive behaviours is discussed through the prism of the dramatherapeutic perspective, where we can find both a psychotherapeutic component as well as a component touching on expression and art, which is rather non-directive in nature. Within the context of practice with clients, this theme has repeatedly emerged and dramatherapists themselves have sought to find ways of coping with clients' demands and needs for structure and guidance within the dramatherapy process. Some of the outcomes from the supervision work also guided the research. Based on this insight, the research questions were approached. The first research question asks: in what ways is directive in dramatherapy manifested and manifested in the process? The second research question then complements the first and asks: to which phenomena are directivity in dramatherapy linked? In relation to the research questions, data were collected using focus groups and field notes. The qualitative approach of Content analysis and Relational analysis was chosen as the methodology. For analyzing qualitative research, we chose an Inductive coding scheme: Open coding, Axial coding, Pattern matching, Member checking, and Creating a coding scheme. In the presented partial research results, we find recurrent schemes related to directive coding in drama therapy. As an important element, directive leadership emerges in connection with safety for the client group, then in connection with the clients' order and also the department of the facility, and last but not least, to the personality of the drama therapist. By careful analysis and looking for patterns in the research results, we can see connections that are impossible to interpret at this stage but already provide clues to our understanding of the topic and open up further avenues for research in this area.

Keywords: dramatherapy, directivity, personal approach, aims of dramatherapy process, safetyness

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Authors: Jennifer De Paola

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Objectives: The literature is saturated with figures and hard data on happiness and its rates, causes and effects at a large scale, whereas very little is known about the way specific groups of people within societies understand and talk about happiness in their everyday life. The present study contributes to fill this gap in the happiness research by analyzing social representations of happiness among young women through the theoretical frame provided by Moscovici’s Social Representation Theory. Methods: Participants were (N= 351) female students (16-18 year olds) from Finnish, Swedish and English speaking high schools in the Helsinki region, Finland. Main source of data collection were word associations using the stimulus word ‘happiness’ and word associations using as stimulus the term that in the participants’ opinion represents the opposite of happiness. The allowed number of associations was five per stimulus word (10 associations per participant). In total, the 351 participants produced 6973 associations with the two stimulus words given: 3500 (50,19%) associations with ‘happiness’ and 3473 (49,81%) associations with ‘opposite of happiness’. The associations produced were analyzed qualitatively to identify associations with similar meaning and then coded combining similar associations in larger categories. Results: In total, 33 categories were identified respectively for the stimulus word ‘happiness’ and for the stimulus word ‘opposite of happiness’. In general terms, the 33 categories identified for ‘happiness’ included associations regarding relationships with key people considered important, such as ‘family’, abstract concepts such as meaningful life, success and moral values as well as more mundane and hedonic elements like food, pleasure and fun. Similarly, the 33 categories emerged for ‘opposite of happiness’ included relationship problems and arguments, negative feelings such as sadness, depression, stress as well as more concrete issues such as financial problems. Participants were also asked to rate their own level of happiness on a scale from 1 to 10. Results indicated the mean of the self-rated level of happiness was 7,93 (the range varied from 1 to 10; SD = 1, 50). Participants’ responses were further divided into three different groups according to the self-rated level of happiness: group 1 (level 10-9), group 2 (level 8-6), and group 3 (level 5 and lower) in order to investigate the way the categories mentioned above were distributed among the different groups. Preliminary results show that the category ‘family’ is associated with higher level of happiness, whereas its presence gradually decreases among the participants with a lower level of happiness. Moreover, the category ‘depression’ seems to be mainly present among participants in group 3, whereas the category ‘sadness’ is mainly present among participants with higher level of happiness. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study indicates the prevalent ways of thinking about happiness and its opposite among young female students, suggesting that representations varied to some extent depending on the happiness level of the participants. This study contributes to bringing new knowledge as it considers happiness as a holistic state, thus going beyond the literature that so far has too often viewed happiness as a mere unidimensional spectrum.

Keywords: female, happiness, social representations, unhappiness

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Authors: Kaleb Shiferaw, Berhanu Geberemedhin

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Ethiopian farmers have a long tradition of beekeeping and the country has huge potential for honey production. However traditional mode of production still dominates the sub sector which negatively affect the total production and productivity. A number of studies have been conducted to better understand the working honey production, however, none of them systematically investigate the extent of technical efficiency of the sub-sector. This paper uses Stochastic Frontier production model to quantifying the extent of technical efficiency and identify exogenous determinant of inefficiency. The result showed that consistent with other studies traditional practice dominate small scale honey production in Ethiopia. The finding also revealed that use of purchased inputs such as bee forage and other supplement is very limited among honey producers indicating that natural bee forage is the primary source of bee forage. The immediate consequence of all these is low production and productivity. The number of hives the household owns, whether the household used improved apiculture technologies, availability of natural forest which is the primary sources of nectar for bees and amount of land owned by the households were found to have a significant influence on the amount of honey produced by beekeeper. Our result further showed that the mean technical efficiency of honey producers is 0.79 implying that, on average honey producer produce 80 percent of the maximum output. The implication is that 20 percent of the potential output is lost due to technical inefficiency. Number of hives owned by a honey produces, distance to district town-a proxy to market access, household wealth, and whether the household head has a leadership role in the PA affect the technical efficiency of honey producers. The finding suggest that policies that aim to expand the use of improved hives is expected to increase the honey production at household level. The result also suggest that investment on rural infrastructure would be instrumental in improving technical efficiency of honey producer.

Keywords: small-scale honey producer, Ethiopia, technical efficiency in apiculture, stochastic frontier analysis

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Authors: Jinhui Bak, Bumjin Kim

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The purpose of this study is to analyze how the scientific and mathematical fields (STEM) and liberal arts (A) work together in the STEAM program. In the future STEAM programs that have been designed and developed, the humanities will act not just as a 'tool' for science technology and mathematics, but as a 'core' content to have an equivalent status. STEAM was first introduced to the Republic of Korea in 2011 when the Ministry of Education emphasized fostering creative convergence talent. Many programs have since been developed under the name STEAM, but with the majority of programs focusing on technology education, arts and humanities are considered secondary. As a result, arts is most likely to be accepted as an option that can be excluded from the teachers who run the STEAM program. If what we ultimately pursue through STEAM education is in fostering STEAM literacy, we should no longer turn arts into a tooling area for STEM. Based on this consciousness, this study analyzed over 160 STEAM programs in middle and high schools, which were produced and distributed by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Science and Technology Foundation from 2012 to 2017. The framework of analyses referenced two criteria presented in the related prior studies: normative convergence and technological convergence. In addition, we divide Arts into fine arts and liberal arts and focused on Korean Language Course which is in liberal arts and analyzed what kind of curriculum standards were selected, and what kind of process the Korean language department participated in teaching and learning. In this study, to ensure the reliability of the analysis results, we have chosen to cross-check the individual analysis results of the two researchers and only if they are consistent. We also conducted a reliability check on the analysis results of three middle and high school teachers involved in the STEAM education program. Analyzing 10 programs selected randomly from the analyzed programs, Cronbach's α .853 showed a reliable level. The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, the convergence ratio of the liberal arts was lowest in the department of moral at 14.58%. Second, the normative convergence is 28.19%, which is lower than that of the technological convergence. Third, the language and achievement criteria selected for the program were limited to functional areas such as listening, talking, reading and writing. This means that the convergence of Korean language departments is made only by the necessary tools to communicate opinions or promote scientific products. In this study, we intend to compare these results with the STEAM programs in the United States and abroad to explore what elements or key concepts are required for the achievement criteria for Korean language and curriculum. This is meaningful in that the humanities field (A), including Korean, provides basic data that can be fused into 'equivalent qualifications' with science (S), technical engineering (TE) and mathematics (M).

Keywords: Korean STEAM Programme, liberal arts, STEAM curriculum, STEAM Literacy, STEM

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Authors: Lombuso P. Shabalala

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This research paper investigates the importance of community involvement in tourism development activities from the initial stage. Community is defined as a group of people living in the same area and practicing common ownership and practices or with a commonality such as norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Globalisation has restructured economic, political, and social relationships at the local level, which impacts community involvement in activities taking place in their own space. Although social relationships and interests are no longer limited to local communities, the power of place remains. Whereas, tourism is considered as an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and their international relations. The existing literature has indicated that the four types of motivation in community involvement are best differentiated by identifying the unique ultimate goal for each motivation. In a nutshell, the ultimate goal for egoism is to increase one's own welfare; altruism is to increase the welfare of another individual or individuals; collectivism is aimed at increasing the welfare of a group, and the principlism is to uphold one or more moral principles. As a base of community involvement, each of these four forms of motivation exhibits its own strengths and weaknesses to be acknowledged. Purposive sampling was suitable to select the fourteen descendant group representatives. The representatives included chief/s, headman, senior descendants’ member, and members of the traditional council who descends from MWCHS. The qualitative research design was adopted for the study in the form of semi-structured interviews. Community development is a social process involving residents in activities designed to improve their quality of life. The key finding of the research is the importance of involving communities, in particular, the immediate community members from the initial stage of any proposed tourism development activity. Without a doubt, the immediate communities are well informed about the dynamics of the area (economically, politically, and socially). Therefore, the finding suggests that communities are in a better position to advise project managers on possible potential tourism developments activities that can address the real needs and benefit the community, instead of investing resources in a development that will not benefit or add any value in the lives of the targeted communities. It must be noted that the power of the place where the development will be implemented remains with the community. Furthermore, community support and buy-in are crucial to the success of prospective tourism development. In conclusion, it cannot be denied that community involvement comes with its own challenges, contrary to greater sustainable benefits that can be realized prior to articulation. The study suggests for project managers to ensure a fair and transparent community involvement process. Fair distribution of meaningful roles could secure trust and result in these communities to view the proposed development as their own.

Keywords: communities, development, involvement, tourism

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Authors: Theoni Soublis

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The COVID-19 pandemic created a severe interruption in teaching and learning in K-12 schools. It is essential that educational researchers, teachers, and administrators understand the long term effects that COVID-19 had on a variety of stakeholders in education. This investigation aims to analyze the research since the beginning of the pandemic that focuses specifically on teacher retention, resilience, and training. The results of this investigation will help to inform future research in order to better understand how the institution of education can continue to be prepared and to better prepare for future significant shifts in the modalities of instruction. The results of this analysis will directly impact the field of education as it will broaden the scope of understanding regarding how COVID- 19 impacted teaching and learning. The themes that will emerge from the data analysis will directly inform policy makers, administrators, and researchers about how to best implement training and curriculum design in order to support teacher effectiveness this in the classroom. Educational researchers have written about how teacher morale plummeted and how many teachers reported early burnout and higher stress levels. Teachers’ stress and anxiety soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, but so has their resilience and dedication to the field of education. This research aims to understand how public-school teachers overcame teaching obstacles presented to them during COVID-19. Research has been conducted to identify a variety of information regarding the impact the pandemic has had on K-12 teachers, students, and families. This research aims to understand how teachers continued to pursue their teaching objectives without significant training of effective online instruction methods. Not many educators even heard of the video conferencing platform Zoom before the spring of 2020. Researchers are interested in understanding how teachers used their expertise, prior knowledge, and training to institute immediate and effective online learning environments, what types of relationships did teachers build with students while teaching 100% remotely, and how did relationships change with students while teaching remotely? Furthermore, did the teacher-student relationship propel teacher resolve to be successful while teaching during a pandemic. Recent world events have significantly impacted the field of public-school teaching. The pandemic forced teachers to shift their paradigm about how to maintain high academic expectations, meet state curriculum standards, and assess students learning gains to make data-informed decisions while simultaneously adapting modes of instruction through multiple outlets with little to no training on remote, synchronous, asynchronous, virtual, and hybrid teaching. While it would be very interesting to study how teaching positively impacted students learning during the pandemic, I am more interested in understanding how teaches stayed the course and maintained their mental health while dealing with the stress and pressure of teaching during COVID-19.

Keywords: teacher retention, COVID-19, teacher education, teacher moral

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Authors: Sally Abu Sabaa, Lindsey Gutt

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In an attempt to use education as a way of raising a socially responsible and engaged global citizen, the YU-Bridge program, the largest and fastest pathway program of its kind in North America, has embarked on the journey of integrating general themes from the UN’s sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) in its English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum. The purpose of this initiative was to redefine the general philosophy of education in the middle of a pandemic and align with York University’s University Academic Plan that was released in summer 2020 framed around the SDGs. The YUB program attracts international students from all over the world but mainly from China, and its goal is to enable students to achieve the minimum language requirement to join their undergraduate courses at York University. However, along with measuring outcomes, objectives, and the students’ GPA, instructors and academics are always seeking innovation of the YUB curriculum to adapt to the ever growing challenges of academics in the university context, in order to focus more on subject matter that students will be exposed to in their undergraduate studies. However, with the sudden change that has happened globally with the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other natural disasters like the increase in forest fires and floods, rethinking the philosophy and goal of education was a must. Accordingly, the SDGs became the solid pillars upon which we, academics and administrators of the program, could build a new curriculum and shift our perspective from simply ESL education to education with moral and ethical goals. The preliminary implementation of this initiative was supported by an institutional-wide consultation with EAP instructors who have diverse experiences, disciplines, and interests. Along with brainstorming sessions and mini-pilot projects preceding the integration of the SDGs in the YUB-EAP curriculum, those meetings led to creating a general outline of a curriculum and an assessment framework that has the SDGs at its core with the medium of ESL used for language instruction. Accordingly, a community of knowledge exchange was spontaneously created and facilitated by instructors. This has led to knowledge, resources, and teaching pedagogies being shared and examined further. In addition, experiences and reactions of students are being shared, leading to constructive discussions about opportunities and challenges with the integration of the SDGs. The discussions have branched out to discussions about cultural and political barriers along with a thirst for knowledge and engagement, which has resulted in increased engagement not only on the part of the students but the instructors as well. Later in the program, two surveys will be conducted: one for the students and one for the instructors to measure the level of engagement of each in this initiative as well as to elicit suggestions for further development. This paper will describe this fundamental step into using ESL methodology as a mode of disseminating essential ethical and socially correct knowledge for all learners in the 21st Century, the students’ reactions, and the teachers’ involvement and reflections.

Keywords: EAP, curriculum, education, global citizen

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Authors: Marco Sewald

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Due to the current enforcement of exterritorial U.S. legislation, up to 9 million U.S. (dual) citizens residing abroad are subject to U.S. double and surcharge taxation and at risk of losing access to otherwise basic financial services and investment opportunities abroad. The United States is the only OECD country that taxes non-resident citizens, lawful permanent residents and other non-resident aliens on their worldwide income, based on local U.S. tax laws. To enforce these policies the U.S. has implemented ‘saving clauses’ in all tax treaties and implemented several compliance provisions, including the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Qualified Intermediaries Agreements (QI) and Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) addressing Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) to implement these provisions in foreign jurisdictions. This policy creates systematic cases of double and surcharge taxation. The increased enforcement of compliance rules is creating additional report burdens for U.S. persons abroad and FFIs accepting such U.S. persons as customers. FFIs in Europe react with a growing denial of specific financial services to this population. The numbers of U.S. citizens renouncing has dramatically increased in the last years. A case study is chosen as an appropriate methodology and research method, as being an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used. This evaluative approach is testing whether the combination of policies works in practice, or whether they are in accordance with desirable moral, political, economical aims, or may serve other causes. The research critically evaluates the financial and non-financial consequences and develops sufficient strategies. It further discusses these strategies to avoid the undesired consequences of exterritorial U.S. legislation. Three possible strategies are resulting from the use cases: (1) Duck and cover, (2) Pay U.S. double/surcharge taxes, tax preparing fees and accept imposed product limitations and (3) Renounce U.S. citizenship and pay possible exit taxes, tax preparing fees and the requested $2,350 fee to renounce. While the first strategy is unlawful and therefore unsuitable, the second strategy is only suitable if the U.S. citizen residing abroad is planning to move to the U.S. in the future. The last strategy is the only reasonable and lawful way provided by the U.S. to limit the exposure to U.S. double and surcharge taxation and the limitations on financial products. The results are believed to add a perspective to the current academic discourse regarding U.S. citizenship based taxation, currently dominated by U.S. scholars, while providing sufficient strategies for the affected population at the same time.

Keywords: citizenship based taxation, FATCA, FBAR, qualified intermediaries agreements, renounce U.S. citizenship

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Authors: Nurgul A. Abenova, Gaukhar S. Dilmagambetova, Lazzat M. Zhamaliyeva

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Professionalism is a core competency that all medical students must achieve throughout their studies. Clinical knowledge, good communication skills and an understanding of ethics form the basis of professionalism. Patients, medical societies and accrediting organizations expect future specialists to be professionals in their field, which in turn leads to the best clinical results. Currently, there are no studies devoted to the study of medical professionalism in the Republic of Kazakhstan. As a result, medical education in the Kazakhstani system has a limited perception of the concept of professionalism compared to many Western medical schools. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to analyze the perception of medical professionalism among residents and teachers of family medicine at the West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University. А qualitative research method was used based on the content analysis methodology. A focus group discussion was held with 60 residents and 12 family medicine teachers to gather participants' views and experiences in the field of medical professionalism. The received information was processed using the MAXQDA-2020 software package. Respondents were selected for the study based on their age, gender, and educational level. The results of the conducted survey confirmed the respondents’ acknowledgment of the basic attributes of professionalism, such as medical knowledge and skills (more than 40% of the answers), personal and moral qualities of the doctor (more than 25% of the answers), respect for the interests of the patient (15% of the answers), the relationship between the doctor and the patient and among professionals themselves (15% of responses). Another important discovery of the survey was that residents are five times more likely to define the relationship between a doctor and a patient in a model “respect for the interests of the patient” in comparison with teachers of family medicine, who primarily reported responsibility and collegiality to be the basis for the development of professionalism and traditionally view doctor-patient relationship to be formed on the basis of paternalism defined by a high degree of control over patients. This significant difference demonstrates a rift among specialists in the field of family medicine, which causes a lot of problems. For example, nowadays, professional family doctors regularly face burnout problem due to many reasons and factors that force them to abandon their jobs. In addition to that, elements of professionalism such as reflective skills, time management and feedback collection were presented to the least extent (less than 1%) by both groups, which differs from the perception of the Western medical school and is a significant issue that needs to be solved. The qualitative nature of our study provides a detailed understanding of medical professionalism in the context of the Central Asian healthcare system, revealing many aspects that are inferior to the Western medical school counterparts and provides a solution, which is to teach the attributes and skills required for medical professionalism at all stages of medical education of family doctors.

Keywords: family medicine, family doctors, medical professionalism, medical education

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Authors: Camila Lee Park, Mauro Fracarolli Nunes

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Understood as the preference for products and services that do not involve moral dilemmas, ethical consumption has been increasingly discussed by scholars, practitioners, and consumers. Among its diverse trends, the defense of animal rights and welfare seems to have gained particular momentum in past decades. Not surprisingly, companies, governments, ideologues, and virtually any institution or group interested in (re)shaping society invest in the building of narratives oriented to influence consumption behavior. The animal rights movement, for example, is devoted to the elimination of the use of animals in science, as well as of commercial animal agriculture and hunting activities. Although advances in ethical consumption may be observed in practice, it still seems more popular as rhetoric. Diverse scholars have addressed the disparities between self-professed ethical consumers and their actual purchase patterns, with differences being attributed to factors such as price sensitivity, lack of information, quality, cynicism, and limited availability. The gap is also linked to the 'consumer sovereignty myth', according to which consumers are only able to choose from a pre-determined range of choices made before products reach them. On the other hand, academics also debate ethical consumption behavior as more likely to occur when it assumes compliance with social norms. As sustainability becomes a permanent issue, customers may tend to adhere to ethical consumption, either because of an individual value or due to a social one. Regardless of these efforts, the actual value attributed to ethical businesses remains unclear. Likewise, the power of stakeholders’ initiatives to influence corporate strategies is dubious. In search to offer new perspectives on these matters, the present study concentrates on the following research questions: Do customers value products/companies that respect animal rights? If so, does such enhanced value convert into actions from the part of the companies? Broadly, we aim to understand if customers’ perception holds performative traits (i.e., are capable of either trigger or contribute to changes in organizational behaviour around the respect for animal rights). In addressing these issues, two preliminary behavioral vignette-based experiments were conducted, with the perspectives of 307 participants being assessed. Building on a case of the cosmetics industry, social, emotional, and functional values were hypothesized as directly impacting positive word-of-mouth, which, in turn, would carry direct effects on purchase intention. A first structural equation model was analyzed with the combined samples of studies I and II. Results suggest that emotional value strongly impacts both positive word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Data confirms initial expectations on customers valuing products and companies that comply with ethical postures concerning animals, especially if social-oriented practices are also present.

Keywords: animal rights, business ethics, emotional value, ethical consumption

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Authors: Ahmed Makhoukh

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Quality assurance (QA) has recently become a common practice, which is endorsed by most Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide, due to the pressure of internal and external forces. One of the aims of this quality movement is to make the contribution of university education to socio-economic development highly significant. This entails that graduates are currently required have a high-quality profile, i.e., to be competent and master the 21st-century skills needed in the labor market. This wave of change, mostly imposed by globalization, has the effect that university education should be learner-centered in order to satisfy the different needs of students and meet the expectations of other stakeholders. Such a shift of focus on the student learning outcomes has led HE institutions to reconsider their strategic planning, their mission, the curriculum, the pedagogical competence of the academic staff, among other elements. To ensure that the overall institutional performance is on the right way, a QA system should be established to assume this task of checking regularly the extent to which the set of standards of evaluation are strictly respected as expected. This operation of QA has the advantage of proving the accountability of the institution, gaining the trust of the public with transparency and enjoying an international recognition. This is the case of Doha Institute (DI) for Graduate Studies, in Qatar, the object of the present study. The significance of this contribution is to show that the conception of quality has changed in this digital age, and the need to integrate a department responsible for QA in every HE institution to ensure educational quality, enhance learners and achieve academic leadership. Thus, to undertake the issue of QA in DI for Graduate Studies, an elite university (in the academic sense) that focuses on a small and selected number of students, a qualitative method will be adopted in the description and analysis of the data (document analysis). In an attempt to investigate the extent to which QA is achieved in Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, three broad indicators will be evaluated (input, process and learning outcomes). This investigation will be carried out in line with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education represented by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).

Keywords: accreditation, higher education, quality, quality assurance, standards

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Authors: O. Fatemi

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Considering growing building construction industry in developing countries and sustainable development concept, as well as the importance of taking care of the future generations, codifying buildings scoring system based on environmental criteria, has always been a subject for discussion. The existing systems cannot be used for all the regions due to several reasons, including but not limited to variety in regional variables. In this article, the most important common LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) common and Global environmental scoring systems, used in UK, USA, and Japan, respectively, have been discussed and compared with a special focus on CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency), to credit assigning field (weighing and scores systems) as well as sustainable development criteria in each system. Then, converging and distinct fields of the foregoing systems are examined considering National Iranian Building Code. Furthermore, the common credits in the said systems not mentioned in National Iranian Building Code have been identified. These credits, which are generally included in well-known fundamental principles in sustainable development, may be considered as offered options for the Iranian building environmental scoring system. It is suggested that one of the globally and commonly accepted systems is chosen considering national priorities in order to offer an effective method for buildings environmental scoring, and then, a part of credits is added and/or removed, or a certain credit score is changed, and eventually, a new scoring system with a new title is developed for the country. Evidently, building construction industry highly affects the environment, economy, efficiency, and health of the relevant occupants. Considering the growing trend of cities and construction, achieving building scoring systems based on environmental criteria has always been a matter of discussion. The existing systems cannot be used for all the regions due to several reasons, including but not limited to variety in regional variables.

Keywords: scoring system, sustainability assessment, water efficiency, national Iranian building code

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Authors: Sagar Mahendrakar

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Testers' roles have changed dramatically as automation continues to revolutionise the software development lifecycle. There's a general belief that manual testing is becoming outdated with the introduction of advanced testing frameworks and tools. This abstract, however, disproves that notion by examining the complex and dynamic role that testers play in automated environments. In this work, we explore the complex duties that testers have when everything is automated. We contend that although automation increases productivity and simplifies monotonous tasks, it cannot completely replace the cognitive abilities and subject-matter knowledge of human testers. Rather, testers shift their focus to higher-value tasks like creating test strategies, designing test cases, and delving into intricate scenarios that are difficult to automate. We also emphasise the critical role that testers play in guaranteeing the precision, thoroughness, and dependability of automated testing. Testers verify the efficacy of automated scripts and pinpoint areas for improvement through rigorous test planning, execution, and result analysis. They play the role of quality defenders, using their analytical and problem-solving abilities to find minute flaws that computerised tests might miss. Furthermore, the abstract emphasises how testing in automated environments is a collaborative process. In order to match testing efforts with business objectives, improve test automation frameworks, and rank testing tasks according to risk, testers work closely with developers, automation engineers, and other stakeholders. Finally, we discuss how testers in the era of automation need to possess a growing skill set. To stay current, testers need to develop skills in scripting languages, test automation tools, and emerging technologies in addition to traditional testing competencies. Soft skills like teamwork, communication, and flexibility are also essential for productive cooperation in cross-functional teams. This abstract clarifies the ongoing importance of testers in automated settings. Testers can use automation to improve software quality and provide outstanding user experiences by accepting their changing role as strategic partners and advocates for quality.

Keywords: testing, QA, automation, leadership

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Authors: Maria V. Mishatkina

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The modelling of dialogical environment is an essential feature of modern education. The dialogue of cultures is a foundation and an important prerequisite for a formation of a human’s main moral qualities such as an ability to understand another person, which is manifested in such values as tolerance, respect, mutual assistance and mercy. A formation of a modern expert occurs in an educational environment that is significantly different from what we had several years ago. Nowadays university education has qualitatively new characteristics. They may be observed in Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), a top Russian higher education institution which unites representatives of more than 150 countries. The content of its educational strategies is not an adapted cultural experience but material between science and innovation. Besides, RUDN University’s profiles and specialization are not equal to the professional structures. People study not a profession in a strict sense but a basic scientific foundation of an activity in different socio-cultural areas (science, business and education). RUDN University also provides a considerable unit of professional education components. They are foreign languages skills, economic, political, ethnic, communication and computer culture, theory of information and basic management skills. Moreover, there is a rich social life (festive multicultural events, theme parties, journeys) and prospects concerning the inclusive approach to education (for example, a special course ‘Social Pedagogy: Issues of Tolerance’). In our research, we use such methods as analysis of modern and contemporary scientific literature, opinion poll (involving students, teachers and research workers) and comparative data analysis. We came to the conclusion that knowledge transfer of RUDN student in the activity happens through making goals, problems, issues, tasks and situations which simulate future innovative ambiguous environment that potentially prepares him/her to dialogical way of life. However, all these factors may not take effect if there is no ‘personal inspiration’ of students by communicative and dialogic values, their participation in a system of meanings and tools of learning activity that is represented by cooperation within the framework of scientific and pedagogical schools dialogue. We also found out that dominating strategies of ensuring the quality of education are those that put students in the position of the subject of their own education. Today these strategies and approaches should involve such approaches and methods as task, contextual, modelling, specialized, game-imitating and dialogical approaches, the method of practical situations, etc. Therefore, University in the modern sense is not only an educational institution, but also a generator of innovation, cooperation among nations and cultural progress. RUDN University has been performing exactly this mission for many decades.

Keywords: dialogical developing situation, dialogue of cultures, readiness for dialogue, university graduate

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Authors: Edoghogho Ogbeifun, Charles Mbohwa, J. H. C. Pretorius

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Effective infrastructure development scheme planned and executed has positive influence on the quantity of available stock of infrastructure to meet the immediate and expansion needs of an organization, as well as contribute to the overall economic development of a nation, community or the local entity where the infrastructure is hosted. It is noteworthy, however, that infrastructure development scheme spans a long time frame, usually longer than the political life of the administration that initiates the scheme. In the majority of circumstances, execution may start and achieve different levels of completion; at best, only limited numbers are completed and put into functional use during the life of the administration that initiated the infrastructure scheme. When there is a change in leadership, many of the uncompleted projects are usually abandoned. The new administration repeats the circle of its predecessors and develops another set of infrastructure scheme which will suffer similar fate as the ones developed by their predecessors; thus doting the landscape with many uncompleted projects, which leads to infrastructure deficit. These circle will continue unless each succeeding leader sees governance as single continuum. Therefore, infrastructure projects not completed by one administration should be continued by succeeding administration, in order to increase the stock of relevant infrastructure available for the smooth operations organization and enhance the needed developments, as well as reduce the negative effects of infrastructure deficit. The single case study of qualitative research method was adopted to investigate the actions of the administration of three successive Vice-Chancellors, in a higher education institution in Nigeria, over a longitudinal period of twelve years. This is with a view to exploring the effects of each administration on the development and execution of infrastructure projects, with particular interest on abandoned projects. The findings revealed that although two of Vice-Chancellors were committed to infrastructure upgrade, they executed more new projects than completing abandoned ones, while the current leader has shown more pragmatism in completing abandoned projects alongside constructing new ones; thus demonstrating the importance of the continuity of governance. In this regard, there is a steady increase in the stock of infrastructure to accommodate the expansion of existing academic programmes, host new ones as well as reduce the negative effects of infrastructure deficit caused by abandoned projects.

Keywords: abandoned projects, continuity of governance, infrastructure development scheme, long time frame

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Authors: Sedef Sert, Paola Garrone, Marco Melacini, Alessandro Perego

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This paper is aimed at enhancing our current understanding of motivations behind corporate in-kind donations and to find out whether economic efficiency may be a major driver. Our empirical setting is consisted of surplus food recovery and donation by companies from food supply chain. This choice of empirical setting is motivated by growing attention on the paradox of food insecurity and food waste i.e. a total of 842 million people worldwide were estimated to be suffering from regularly not getting enough food, while approximately 1.3 billion tons per year food is wasted globally. Recently, many authors have started considering surplus food donation to nonprofit organizations as a way to cope with social issue of food insecurity and environmental issue of food waste. In corporate philanthropy literature the motivations behind the corporate donations for social purposes, such as altruistic motivations, enhancements to employee morale, the organization’s image, supplier/customer relationships, local community support, have been examined. However, the relationship with economic efficiency is not studied and in many cases the pure economic efficiency as a decision making factor is neglected. Although in literature there are some studies give us the clue on economic value creation of surplus food donation such as saving landfill fees or getting tax deductions, so far there is no study focusing deeply on this phenomenon. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework which explores the economic barriers and drivers towards alternative surplus food management options i.e. discounts, secondary markets, feeding animals, composting, energy recovery, disposal. The case study methodology is used to conduct the research. Protocols for semi structured interviews are prepared based on an extensive literature review and adapted after expert opinions. The interviews are conducted mostly with the supply chain and logistics managers of 20 companies in food sector operating in Italy, in particular in Lombardy region. The results shows that in current situation, the food manufacturing companies can experience cost saving by recovering and donating the surplus food with respect to other methods especially considering the disposal option. On the other hand, retail and food service sectors are not economically incentivized to recover and donate surplus food to disfavored population. The paper shows that not only strategic and moral motivations, but also economic motivations play an important role in managerial decision making process in surplus food management. We also believe that our research while rooted in the surplus food management topic delivers some interesting implications to more general research on corporate in-kind donations. It also shows that there is a huge room for policy making favoring the recovery and donation of surplus products.

Keywords: corporate philanthropy, donation, recovery, surplus food

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Authors: Tamir Michal

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The subject of Bedouin dispersion has accompanied the State of Israel from the day of its establishment. From a legal point of view, this subject has offered a launchpad for creative judicial decisions. Thus, for example, the first court decision in Israel to recognize affirmative action (Avitan), dealt with a petition submitted by a Jew appealing the refusal of the State to recognize the Petitioner’s entitlement to the long-term lease of a plot designated for Bedouins. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition, holding that there existed a public interest in assisting Bedouin to establish permanent urban settlements, an interest which justifies giving them preference by selling them plots at subsidized prices. In another case (The Forum for Coexistence in the Negev) the Supreme Court extended equitable relief for the purpose of constructing a bridge, even though the construction infringed the Law, in order to allow the children of dispersed Bedouin to reach school. Against this background, the recent verdict, delivered during the Protective Edge military campaign, which dismissed a petition aimed at forcing the State to spread out Protective Structures in Bedouin villages in the Negev against the risk of being hit from missiles launched from Gaza (Abu Afash) is disappointing. Even if, in arguendo, no selective discrimination was involved in the State’s decision not to provide such protection, the decision, and its affirmation by the Court, is problematic when examined through the prism of the Theory of Recognition. The article analyses the issue by tools of theory of Recognition, according to which people develop their identities through mutual relations of recognition in different fields. In the social context, the path to recognition is cognitive respect, which is provided by means of legal rights. By seeing other participants in Society as bearers of rights and obligations, the individual develops an understanding of his legal condition as reflected in the attitude to others. Consequently, even if the Court’s decision may be justified on strict legal grounds, the fact that Jewish settlements were protected during the military operation, whereas Bedouin villages were not, is a setback in the struggle to make the Bedouin citizens with equal rights in Israeli society. As the Court held, ‘Beyond their protective function, the Migunit [Protective Structures] may make a moral and psychological contribution that should not be undervalued’. This contribution is one that the Bedouin did not receive in the Abu Afash verdict. The basic thesis is that the Court’s verdict analyzed above clearly demonstrates that the reliance on classical liberal instruments (e.g., equality) cannot secure full appreciation of all aspects of Bedouin life, and hence it can in fact prejudice them. Therefore, elements of the recognition theory should be added, in order to find the channel for cognitive dignity, thereby advancing the Bedouins’ ability to perceive themselves as equal human beings in the Israeli society.

Keywords: bedouin dispersion, cognitive respect, recognition theory, sustainable development

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Authors: Mary Edokpa Fadal, Frances Agweda

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Considering the volatile and evolving nature of the political environment in the developing countries, it is important that the subject of effective leadership practices that focus on transformational and systematic political development and values be reviewed. If the attitude towards partisan politics and the played politics by political parties is relatively deviated from expected adherence to acceptance, safe, efficient and practical standard, the political parties will continue to struggle endlessly in an effort to maintain a system that works. The analysis is situated in the context of political parties and partisan political behavior in contemporary societies and developing nations. Recent research of empirical evidence shows that most of the political parties are more or less, not too active in playing their instrumental role in the political system, such as unifying, simplifying and stabilizing the political process. This is however traced to the problem of ethnic politics that have been dominated by tribalism. The rising clamor for political development needs re-structuring and correcting the abnormalities in the center of the polity to address the flaws in our political system. The paper argues that political parties and political actors are some of the vital instrument of attaining societal goals of democratic principles for peace and durability. Issues of ethnic and partisan politics are also discussed, as it relates to question pertaining to political ideologies. It is in the findings that this paper examines some of the issues that have been seen revolving the true practice of political parties and its activities towards the democratic trend of a society, that help to resolve questions surrounding the issues of politics and governance in developing countries. These issues are seen as an aberration that have characterized politics and political behavior especially in the aspect of transparency and fulfilling its purpose of existence. The paper argues that the transition of the developing nature of states largely depends on the political structures and party politics and the nature of constitutionalism following the democratic awakening. The paper concludes that politics and political behavior are all human factors that play a vital role in the development of contemporary societies. They drive the wheel of nations towards its goal attainment. This paper relies on documentary, primary sources of data collection and empirical analysis.

Keywords: development, ethnicity, partisan politics, political behavior, political parties

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Authors: Pieter A. Cornelissen, Joris J. Van Hoof

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The interest in improving occupational safety started almost simultaneously with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Yet, it was not until the late 1970’s before the role of communication was considered in scientific research regarding occupational safety. In recent years the importance of communication as a means to improve occupational safety has increased. Not only as communication might have a direct effect on safety performance and safety outcomes, but also as it can be viewed as a major component of other important safety-related elements (e.g., training, safety meetings, leadership). And while safety communication is an increasingly important topic in research, its operationalization is often vague and differs among studies. This is not only problematic when comparing results, but also in applying these results to practice and the work floor. By means of an in-depth analysis—building on an existing dataset—this review aims to overcome these problems. The initial database search yielded 25.527 articles, which was reduced to a research corpus of 176 articles. Focusing on the 37 articles of this corpus that addressed communication (related to safety outcomes and safety performance), the current study will provide a comprehensive overview of the role and effects of safety communication and outlines the conditions under which communication contributes to a safer work environment. The study shows that in literature a distinction is commonly made between safety communication (i.e., the exchange or dissemination of safety-related information) and feedback (i.e. a reactive form of communication). And although there is a consensus among researchers that both communication and feedback positively affect safety performance, there is a debate about the directness of this relationship. Whereas some researchers assume a direct relationship between safety communication and safety performance, others state that this relationship is mediated by safety climate. One of the key findings is that despite the strongly present view that safety communication is a formal and top-down safety management tool, researchers stress the importance of open communication that encourages and allows employees to express their worries, experiences, views, and share information. This raises questions with regard to other directions (e.g., bottom-up, horizontal) and forms of communication (e.g., informal). The current review proposes a framework to overcome the often vague and different operationalizations of safety communication. The proposed framework can be used to characterize safety communication in terms of stakeholders, direction, and characteristics of communication (e.g., medium usage).

Keywords: communication, feedback, occupational safety, review

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Authors: Adriana Anselmo Oliveira

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The present project showcases a tile work from the Franco-Portuguese artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908-1992). It is a set of 8 panels composed of figurative and geometric tiles, with extra tiles framing nearby doors and windows in a study room in the (UFRRJ, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro). The aforementioned work was created between 1942 and 1943, during the artist's 6 year exile in the Brazilian city. This one-of-a-kind tileset was designed and made by Vieira da Silva between 1942 and 1943. Over the years, several units were lost, which led to their replacement in the nineties. However, these replacements don't do justice to the original work of art. In 2007, a project was initiated to fully repair and maintain the set. Three panels are removed and restored, but the project is halted. To this day, the three fully restored panels remain in boxes. In 2016 a new restoration project is submitted by the (Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa) in collaboration with de (Fundacão Árpád Szenes-Vieira da Silva). There are many varied opinions on restoring and conserving older pieces of art, however, we have the moral duty to safeguard the original materials used by the artist along with the artists original vision and also to care for the future generations of students who will use the space in which the tile-work was inserted. Many tiles have been replaced by white tiles, tiles with a divergent colour pallet and technique, and in a few cases, the incorrect place or way around. These many factors make it increasingly difficult to maintain the artists original vision and destroy and chance of coherence within the artwork itself. The conservative technician cannot make new images to fill the empty spaces or mark the remaining images with their own creative input. with reliable photographic documentation that can provide us with the necessary vision to allow us to proceed with an accurate reconstruction, we have the obligation to proceed and return the piece of art to its true form, as in its current state, it is impossible to maintain its original glory. Using the information we have, we must find a way to differentiate the original tiles from the reconstructions in order to recreate and reclaim the original message from the artist. The objective of this project is to understand the significance of tiles in Vieira da Silva's art as well as the influence they had on the artist's pictorial language since the colour definition on tile work is vastly different from the painting process as the materials change during their merger. Another primary goal is to understand what the previous interventions achieved besides increasing the artworks durability. The main objective is to submit a proposal that can salvage the artist's visual intention and supports it for posteriority. In summary, this proposal goes further than the usual conservative interventions as it intends to recreate the original artistic worth, prioritising the aesthetics and keeping its soul alive.

Keywords: Vieira da Silva, tiles, conservation, restoration

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Authors: Jerry D. Johnson, Jason A. LaFrance, Matthew A. Ohlson, Shane C. Shope

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The public school system is the largest employer and most impactful factor in the local economy for many rural communities in the United States. The relationship between the school system and the community is symbiotic—they thrive together or decline together. Understanding the perceptions of rural school superintendents (the titular head of the local school district) with regard to rural development is foundational to understanding how the school and community interact and collaborate in key areas like economic development, community development, and workforce development. To investigate those perceptions as they manifest among superintendents in thriving rural communities, a collective case study was designed and conducted to disclose and characterize superintendent perceptions about rural development in three diverse rural settings in the U.S.: Florida, Kansas, and Ohio. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) served as the conceptual framework and supported a focus on identifying and describing assets and strategies/activities that helped explain the positive results in the communities of interest. Implementation of a criterion-based purposive sampling process (using extant data and a nomination process to identify rural superintendents in communities with vibrant economies and recognized the contribution by the schools in rural development) resulted in two superintendents from each of these state settings who participated in semi-structured interviews. Interview transcripts and relevant extant documents were coded and analyzed to produce individual cases with representative themes, after which a cross-case analysis was conducted to generate overarching themes. The overarching themes were then scrutinized and tested through the application of appropriate credibility techniques to promote the trustworthiness of the results. Findings include the importance of building and maintaining relationships that extend beyond the immediate collaboration activity, the importance of collaboration skills, intentionality of practice, and organizational systems/structures as facilitators/affordances. The results offer potential guidance for leveraging the potential for public schools to contribute to their rural development in the communities they serve.

Keywords: collaboration, leadership, rural development, rural schools

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Authors: Kaushal Jha

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India is one of the major producers of pineapple contributing a significant part in terms of total world production of pineapple. It has spread throughout tropical and subtropical regions as a commercial fruit crop. In India, the cultivation of pineapple is confined to high rainfall and humid coastal region in the peninsular India and hilly areas of Northeastern region of India. Nagaland, one of the potential states of North-East India is basically an agrarian state having been endowed with favourable agro climatic conditions and a rich bio-diversity of flora and fauna. Agriculture contributes significantly to the state’s economy. Pineapple is an important fruit crop grown in Nagaland and has a very high potential for doubling the income of farmers in comparison to the traditional practices of rice cultivation. This requires improved farm management practices as well as a genre of entrepreneurial intentions and capabilities. The present study aimed at analysing the dimensions of entrepreneurial skill development among the pineapple growers of Nagaland. Medziphema block under Dimapur district is considered as the pineapple valley of Nagaland. Pineapple grown in this area is considered as one of the best in Nagaland in terms of its sweetness as well as quality. A multistage sampling was undertaken for conducting the present study. Medziphema rural development block was selected purposively for this purpose. The sample was drawn from three leading pineapple producing villages under Medziphema block. The respondents were selected based on random sampling procedure. Data were collected from the respondents using a pre-tested structured schedule. Major findings revealed that entrepreneurial skill development was one of the important factors to augment the increase in the sustained flow of income among the target farmers. Development of farm leadership, improving self esteem, innovativeness, economic motivation, orientation towards management of farm resources and value addition were identified as important dimensions for promoting entrepreneurial skill development and bringing prosperity to the farmers.

Keywords: skill development, entrepreneurial attributes, pineapple growers, Nagaland

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Authors: Suantak Demkhosei Vaiphei

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Mental illness is still considered as an illness not to be treated, resulting India becoming the most depressed country in the world. At present, 150 million Indians are suffering from mental illness and desperately in need of immediate care assessment for their mental health condition. However, only 0.06 per cent of India’s health budget is devoted to mental health treatment, in which the available data suggests that the state of spending the sanctioned budget in this regard is abysmal. Lack of awareness, ignorance, social stigma, and discriminations becomes the underlying factors for worsening the individual mental health conditions. Unfortunately, India becomes the most depressed country in the world, which is hugely affected by anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder followed by China and USA as per the latest World Health Organization report. The National Care of Medical Health stated that at least 6.5 per cent of the Indian populations are under serious mental disorder both in the rural and the urban areas’Mental health is the integral part of health and can be affected by a range of psychosocial-economic factors that need comprehensive strategically approach for promotion, prevention, treatment, and recovery. In a low- and middle-income country like India, the advance progress in mental health service is visible consistently slow and minimal. Some of the major barriers can be seen in the existing public health priorities and its influence on funding; challenges to delivery of basic mental health care in the primary care settings; the minimal numbers of well-trained professionals in the area of mental health care; and lack of mental health perspective in public-health leadership. The existing barriers according to WHO (2007) are; lack of funding for mental health services is the core barrier in implementing quality mental health services, including inadequate coordinated and consensus based national mental health advocacy and plans, the absence of mental health in major donor priorities, marketing of expensive pharmaceuticals by industry, cost-effectiveness information on mental health services that is unknown to senior decision-makers and social stigma among others. Moreover, lack of strong mental health advocacy in countries to increase resources for mental health services and the role of social stigma and the view that mental health is a private responsibility are also the two barriers to mental health.

Keywords: mental health, depression, stigma, barriers

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Authors: dr. Bendes Ákos

Abstract:

Digital skepticism, a critical stance towards digital technology and its pervasive influence on society, presents significant challenges when analyzed from a legal philosophical perspective. This abstract aims to explore the intersection of digital skepticism and legal philosophy, emphasizing the implications for justice, rights, and the rule of law in the digital age. Digital skepticism arises from concerns about privacy, security, and the ethical implications of digital technology. It questions the extent to which digital advancements enhance or undermine fundamental human values. Legal philosophy, which interrogates the foundations and purposes of law, provides a framework for examining these concerns critically. One key area where digital skepticism and legal philosophy intersect is in the realm of privacy. Digital technologies, particularly data collection and surveillance mechanisms, pose substantial threats to individual privacy. Legal philosophers must grapple with questions about the limits of state power and the protection of personal autonomy. They must consider how traditional legal principles, such as the right to privacy, can be adapted or reinterpreted in light of new technological realities. Security is another critical concern. Digital skepticism highlights vulnerabilities in cybersecurity and the potential for malicious activities, such as hacking and cybercrime, to disrupt legal systems and societal order. Legal philosophy must address how laws can evolve to protect against these new forms of threats while balancing security with civil liberties. Ethics plays a central role in this discourse. Digital technologies raise ethical dilemmas, such as the development and use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms that may perpetuate biases or make decisions without human oversight. Legal philosophers must evaluate the moral responsibilities of those who design and implement these technologies and consider the implications for justice and fairness. Furthermore, digital skepticism prompts a reevaluation of the concept of the rule of law. In an increasingly digital world, maintaining transparency, accountability, and fairness becomes more complex. Legal philosophers must explore how legal frameworks can ensure that digital technologies serve the public good and do not entrench power imbalances or erode democratic principles. Finally, the intersection of digital skepticism and legal philosophy has practical implications for policy-making. Legal scholars and practitioners must work collaboratively to develop regulations and guidelines that address the challenges posed by digital technology. This includes crafting laws that protect individual rights, ensure security, and promote ethical standards in technology development and deployment. In conclusion, digital skepticism provides a crucial lens for examining the impact of digital technology on law and society. A legal philosophical approach offers valuable insights into how legal systems can adapt to protect fundamental values in the digital age. By addressing privacy, security, ethics, and the rule of law, legal philosophers can help shape a future where digital advancements enhance, rather than undermine, justice and human dignity.

Keywords: legal philosophy, privacy, security, ethics, digital skepticism

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