Search results for: political unrest

Authors: Abdul Razzaq Azad

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It is known that every human society throughout the world and throughout history, the various religions and their theologies, ethics, and traditions influence everything in their life, shaping socio-economic and political ideas, attitudes and institutions. It is observed that religious teachings and traditions shape how people respond to each other in their daily social inter-course and interaction in the community at large. The majorities of us preserves and protect our own religious beliefs and traditions as generally they symbolize our essential identities, theologically, historically, culturally, socially, and even politically. Our religious faiths symbolize our dignity as persons and our very souls as communities and individuals. It thus goes without saying that in our multi racial and multi religious society, the only way for us to live in peace and harmony is for us to live in peaceful co-existence. It is important for us to recognize, understand, accept and respect each other regardless of our respective belief. The history of interfaith is as ancient as the religions since men and women when not at war with their neighbors have always made an effort to understand them (not least because understanding is a strategy for defense, but also because for as long as there is dialogue wars are delayed).

Keywords: interfaith harmony, world piece order, Islam, religions, lightness,

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Authors: Shola Abidemi Olabode

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Nigeria as a country has been plagued by numerous conflicts since the British colonialists gave in to the advocacy of Nigerian dissents for independence and relinquished power in 1960. These conflicts are often motivated by different issues, from socio-political and economic issues to struggles of ethnic and religious orientation. The Niger Delta region which accounts for the country’s economic mainstay has been at the epicentre of such conflicts. Over the years, peaceful protests, and radical insurgency and resistance movements too numerous to mention have emerged in the region. The Niger Delta Avengers is an example of a recent conflict movement in the region. Using a case study approach, and looking through a cyberconflict perspective, this paper offers a discussion on the intersection between digital and social media and framing in the Niger Delta Avengers conflict. It advocates that the Niger Delta Avengers use digital and social media to legitimise and give credence to their struggle.

Keywords: digital and social media, framing, Niger delta avengers, cyberconflict, conflict

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Authors: K. Menad, A. Feddag, M. A. Hassnaoui

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We are living in a time and in a world heavily polluted. In the list of the great dangers awaiting the man can be placed on top of the list pollution by heavy metals: lead, mercury, cadmium, etc. Fatigue, Depression, Thyroid disorder, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Cancer, are some of the health problems caused by heavy metal pollution. The environmental protection has long since become a major political and economic issue. Among the priorities, include safeguarding water resources. All countries of the world are concerned either because they lack water or because they pollute it. There are several ways to remove these heavy metals; ion exchange by zeolites is one of these ways, which our work is based on. Zeolites were among the main clean up materials by either adsorption, ion exchange and catalysis. Lead and cadmium, heavy metals, is one of the main dangers fulminate the flora and fauna of our small planet, so many resources are deployed to remedy them. The elimination of lead and cadmium by ion exchange has been extensively studied. However, exchange capacity of more and larger formed a major challenge for researchers and industry.

Keywords: composite, ion excahnge, zeolite LTA, zeolite x

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Authors: Monia Hejaiej

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The fable has lent itself to memorable imitations and reinventions. The writing of fables, in prose and verse, was widely cultivated not only in pre-Islamic Arabia but also in the middle ages, reaching its culmination with the Egyptian poet and man of letters Ahmad Shawqī (1989-1932), who revived the ancient tradition, a relatively minor and unexploited genre in the modern era, and re-wrote rimed fables with an Arab Islamic flavor, articulating a set of modern ethico-political concepts and sensibilities such as a belief in good judgment in governance, individual liberty, democracy, a sense of the brotherhood of man and justice. This essay aims to restore the 20th Century poet to his rightful place in the international pantheon of literary achievement, and offers an examination of the Arabian fabulist tradition as it appears in Arabic literature, and a treatment of this genre re-visiting a few representative samples of Ahmad Shawqī collection of fables and their implications for contemporary politics in the Middle East.

Keywords: fable, politcs, governace, democracy, ethics of care

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Authors: Deborah O. Okusanya, Chris Vanrooyen, Stefan de Jager

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Introduction: Homosexuality has been and continues to be a controversial subject across many disciplines; it has generated many debates around religious, academic institutions, political, socio-cultural as well as medical domains. The current study investigated students from a previously disadvantaged African university’s perception regarding homosexuality. Method: This qualitative study utilized two focus groups to collect data, which then was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Result: The study revealed that students’ level of awareness with regard to homosexuality is very high and their perceptions largely negative. Students predominantly found the practice unethical, and un-African. Discussion: Students tend to show a lot of stereotypical prejudicial responses and there seems to be a general lack of willingness to discuss this in a public discourse. In conclusion, there seems to be a tension between cultural values and the open environment such as academic institutions. Students’ perceptions go a long way in shaping public discourse and the larger population’s general attitude toward homosexuality.

Keywords: discourse, homosexuality, stereotypical, un-African

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Authors: Muzammil Dar

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The confluence of trans-national interests and divergent approaches followed by multiple actors has surrounded the Indo-Pacific region with myriad of strategic complexes- Geo-Political, Geo-economic, and security. This paper has thus made a humble attempt to understand the Indo-Pacific strategic predicament from Asia-Pacific perspective. The portmanteau of Indo-Pacific strategic gamble has multiple actors from global powers to regional actors. On the indo-pacific waters, not only flow trade relations, but the tides of conflicts and controversies are striking these actors against each other. The alliance formation and infrastructure building has built-in threat perceptions from rivals vice-versa. The assertiveness of China as a reality and India’s ideological doctrine of peace and friendship, as well as American rebalancing against China, could be seen as clear and bright on the Indo-Pacific strategic portmanteau. ASEAN and Japan, too, have oscillating posturing in the strategic dilemma. The aim and objective of the paper are to sketch out the prospectus and prejudices of Indo-pacific strategic complex.

Keywords: Indo Pacific, Asia Pacific, security and growth for all in the region, SAGAR, ASEAN China

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Authors: Günevi Uslu Evren

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Propaganda is one of the most effective methods for changing individual and mass opinions. Propaganda tries to get the message across to people or masses to effect rather than to provide objective information. There are many types of propaganda. Especially, political propaganda is a very powerful method that is used by states during in both war and peace. The aim of this method is to create a reaction against them by showing within the framework of internal and external enemies. Propaganda can be practiced by many different methods. Especially during the Cold War Era, the US and USSR have tried to create an ideological effect by using the mass media intensively. Cinema, which is located at the beginning of these methods, is the most powerful weapon to influence the masses. In this study, the historical process of the Cold War is examined. Especially, these propagandas that had been used by United States and The Soviet Union were investigated. The purposes of propaganda and construction methods were presented. Cold War events and relations between the US and the USSR during the Cold War will be discussed. Outlooks of two countries to each other during the Cold War, propaganda techniques used defectively during Cold War and how to use the cinema as a propaganda tool will be examined. The film "From Russia with Love, James Bond 007" that was filmed in Cold War were examined to explain how cinema was used as a propaganda tool in this context.

Keywords: cinema, cold war, James Bond, propaganda

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Authors: Denis Ushakov

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Fast growing international migration as a factor of labor globalization now is one of the most important trends of world economy and determinant of social-political transformations. Study of fundamental economical reasons for international migration is relevant due to their prognostic, predictable and normative potential, which can be used in conditions of global economic non-stability. This paper analyzes role of natural-resources, financial and labor factors in economic growth of the modern states; studies relationships between stimulating role of natural resources, finance and labor with levels of modern countries’ economy development. Based on achieved results, findings about fundamental reasons of international migration; transformation of labor factor’s role in providing an economical progress of the states; efficiency of positive impact of manufacturing factors (domestic and attracted from international markets) were offered.

Keywords: international migration, migrant, labor productivity, economy efficiency of migration, migration policy

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Authors: Eva Wagner, Lucely Vargas

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plays an important role in (large-scale) enterprises’ business strategy in developed and emerging countries. This article approaches CSR in international comparison by examining the CSR reporting of 116 leading companies in Austria, Germany, Colombia and Chile from 2006 to 2010. We have used an independently developed scoring model which analyzes reported CSR-activities using seven dimensions to efficiently assess CSR. The study reveals that there are significant differences in CSR-commitment among countries and regions: German companies, as expected, lead most of the investigated CSR dimensions revealing stronger commitment to CSR than their Austrian, Colombian and Chilean counterparts. Even if Latin American companies lag behind their European counterparts, they exhibit high CSR-performance in the social dimension: corporate giving and philanthropic activities are firmly anchored in the tradition of Latin American companies. This indicates that particular CSR-emphases reflect the political and social circumstances of each individual country.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, corporate social performance, international comparison

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Authors: Theo Neethling

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The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) was established in 2007 as a military and diplomatic entity and is intended to assist African states and military actors to address their security needs. At the same time, AFRICOM is clearly an extension of US strategic interests on the African continent. The challenge for the US Department of Defence is to project AFRICOM as a cooperative and willing partner. This implies a partner that offers needed services and resources, and supports African security and military priorities with no presumption of having a privileged role in defining the African future. However, one of AFRICOM’s main challenges relates to the point that it has not been able to secure a firm partnership with South Africa as a key player on the continent: South Africa has continuously taken a lukewarm, if not cold, approach towards AFRICOM since its formation. The main aim of this article is to examine and discuss South Africa’s political-military relations with AFRICOM and to assess the underlying reasons currently inhibiting AFRICOM from achieving a fully productive relationship with the South African government.

Keywords: AFRICOM, South African foreign policy, US interests, defence capabilities in Africa, US-Africa relations

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Authors: Takele Bekele Bayu

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Though Ethiopia is an ancient country with ethnocultural and linguistic diversity, modern Ethiopia came into being in the second half of the 19th century under the military expansion of King Menelik II. Since then, the subsequent political system in the country failed to recognize and accommodate the country’s ethnolinguistic diversity. However, in 1991 the new government led by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) adopted federal-state structuring whereby constitutionally recognized and institutionally accommodated the country’s diversity. This investigation aimed to analyze drivers of ethnic conflict and its dynamism along the Eastern shared border of the Somali and Oromia regional administrations within the federal framework. The paper employed a comparative research design, adopted mixed research methods, and used survey questionnaires and focus group discussions (FGDs) for data collection. The study found that the Somali-Oromo conflict is complex and the dynamics and the sources of conflict in the study areas are similar.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Oromo, Somali, ethnic conflict, federalism

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Authors: Mengmeng Xiao

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The study examines the proactive promotion of feminist agendas by states experiencing prolonged one-party dominance, with a specific focus on Japan. Through a case study approach, it explores why leaders of the dominant party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), actively endorse women-friendly initiatives. The findings reveal three primary motivations: 1) the adoption of women-friendly policies for legitimation, 2) the establishment or funding of women’s organizations for co-optation, and 3) the enhancement of women’s economic and employment rights for state-building purposes. These findings bridge theories across the democracy/autocracy spectrum, emphasizing the need to restructure the research framework on state feminism beyond the binary categorization of regime types. Additionally, they underscore the significance of acknowledging the discretion exercised by state officials, providing insights into instances where state feminism may fail in certain democratic contexts.

Keywords: state feminism, feminist policies, national machinery, regime types, political parties, Japan

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Authors: Rahaf Suleiman Altallaa

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City planning involves making plans, organizing and dealing with the cities urban areas. It attempts to organize socio-spatial relationships at exceptional ranges of governance Urban planning offers the social, monetary and environmental effects of defining spatial obstacles and the influence on the spatial distribution of resources. The dreams and methods of reaching such dissemination vary extensively traditionally and geographically and are often challenged through traditional strategies that expose the political nature of application interventions and the bounds of technical know-how claims. Space, network, argument, and postcolonial debates address how present-day socio-spatial organization is formed, what needs to or should not trade, and the way it underscores whether or not a good plan will contribute to a given situation. Inside the absence of an agreed-upon technical justification for the planning exercise, the planning idea has a tendency to focus on normative processes, positioning making plans as an area for participatory democracy.

Keywords: environmental governance, environmental planning, environmental management, sustainable competitiveness, sustainability

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Authors: L.Vaz, L. Ferreira, R. Aparício, J. Pedro, M. Franco

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This article concerns a qualitative analysis, through an interview, regarding “Sustainability Adoption Barriers in SMEs.” To begin with, the article provides a state-of-the-art overview through fifty-seven articles initially extracted from the Scopus database. The articles were analyzed, and four main clusters emerged in the literature: 1) sustainability and small and medium-sized companies; 2) sustainable business models; 3) sustainability practices adoption procedures, and 4) adoption difficulties on sustainability practices. Utilizing interviews as a methodology, the article seeks to strengthen knowledge regarding sustainability practices, their barriers and the sustainable procedures adopted by SMEs in a Portuguese context. The results demonstrate that the literature agrees with this case study, where there are numerous sustainable practices, yet, due to financial, political, cultural, and technological factors, barriers emerge in the adoption process. By comparing the literature findings with the conducted interviews of interior Portuguese SMEs, this article develops a contribution to the scientific community through a captivating, intuitive and motivating way.

Keywords: barriers, practices, business model, green

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Authors: Sandija Zeverte-Rivza, Irina Pilvere, Baiba Rivza

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The use of renewable energy sources incl. biogas has become topical in accordance with the increasing demand for energy, decrease of fossil energy resources and the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to increase energy independence from the territories where fossil energy resources are available. As the technologies of biogas production from agricultural biomass develop, risk assessment and risk management become necessary for farms producing such a renewable energy. The need for risk assessments has become particularly topical when discussions on changing the biogas policy in the EU take place, which may influence the development of the sector in the future, as well as the operation of existing biogas facilities and their income level. The current article describes results of the risk assessment for farms producing biomass from agriculture biomass in Latvia, the risk assessment system included 24 risks, that affect the whole biogas production process and the obtained results showed the high significance of political and production risks.

Keywords: biogas production, risks, risk assessment, biosystems engineering

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Authors: Abdulrahman Al Lily

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This article spans the domains of education, technology and geo-politics. It uses as an instance the Arab scholarship of education and technology, viewing its scholarly community through the geographical lens of regionalism. It enquires into the power relations among scholars in the Arab region and between scholars in the Arab region and their fellows from outside the region. It addresses the research question: to what extent have region-informed factors affected the scholarly community of education and technology in the Arab region? This question was answered by both qualitative and numerical enquiry, analysing documents, interviews and a survey of native Arabic-speaking scholars. Having analysed the data using the grounded theory approach, two categories of power relations among scholars were identified: power relations within a particular region and power relations across regions. Considering these two categories, a theoretical proposition could be posited that there could be power relationships among scholars that exist on a regional basis. The recommendation is therefore that research should further shed light upon the regionalistic (and thus geographically informed political) dynamics of scholarly communities.

Keywords: education, technology, politics, geography, regionalism, Arab

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Authors: Ada Adoga James

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This paper discussed the concept of community participation and identified tertiary education problems; strategies and methods communities could be involved to reduce conflict witnessed in our tertiary institutions of learning due to government inability to fund education. The paper pointed out that community participation through the use of Parent Teachers Association (PTA), age grade, traditional leaders, village based associations, religious and political organs could be sensitized to raise financial resources. The paper identified different sources of conflicts, the outcome of which causes prolonged academic activities, destruction of lives and properties and in some cased render school environment completely insecure for serious academic activities. It recommends involvement of community participation in assisting government, proper handling of tertiary institutions in management, and more democratic procedure in conflict resolution like cordial relationship between staff, students and trade unions in decision making process.

Keywords: community, conflict resolution, tertiary education, psychology, psychiatry

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Authors: Marcos Centurion-Vicencio

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This study discusses the idea of ‘dominance’ in economic policy and its practical influence over monetary decisions. The discretionary use of repurchase agreements in Brazil over the period 2006-2016 and its effects on the overall price level are the specific issues we will be focusing on. The set of in-depth interviews carried out with public servants at the Brazilian central bank and national treasury, alongside data collected from the National Institution of Statistics (IBGE), suggest that monetary and fiscal dominance do not differ in nature once the assumption of depoliticized central bankers is relaxed. In both regimes, the pursuit of private gains via public institutions affects price stability. While short-sighted politicians in the latter are at the origin of poor monetary decisions, the action of short-sighted financial interest groups is likely to generate a similar outcome in the former. This study then contributes to rethinking monetary policy theory as well as the nature of public borrowing.

Keywords: fiscal and monetary interactions, interest groups, monetary capture, public borrowing

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Authors: Ioannis Manikas

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The increased consumer demand for environmentally friendly production and distribution practices and the stricter environmental regulations turned environmental aspects into important criteria in business decision-making. On the other hand, Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) has evolved dramatically during the last decades in theory and practice serving as a reference point for exchanging experiences among all agents involved in programs and projects to fostering policy and strategy development. Global pressures make it more important than ever to gain a better understanding of the contribution that agrifood businesses make to FNS and to examine ways to make them more resilient in an increasingly globalized and uncertain world. This study extends the standard three-dimensional model of sustainability to include two more dimensions: A technological dimension and a policy/political dimension. Apart from the economic, environmental and social dimensions regularly used in sustainability literature, the extended model will accurately represent the measures and policies addressing food and nutrition security.

Keywords: food and nutrition security, sustainability, food safety, resilience

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Authors: Abosede Priscilla Ipadeola

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The quest for egalitarian justice requires a suitable theoretical foundation that can address the problem of marginalization and subjugation arising from various forms of oppression, such as sexism, racism, classism, and others. Many thinkers and societies have appealed to contractarianism, a theory that has been widely regarded as a doctrine of egalitarianism by some political theorists for about five centuries. Despite its numerous criticisms, the social contract still enjoys a prominent status as a key theory for egalitarian justice. However, Pateman and Mills have contended that the contractarian approach legitimizes gender and racial inequalities by excluding and marginalizing women and people of color from the original agreement. Therefore, the social contract is incapable of generating or fostering equality. This study proposes postcontractarianism, which is a viable alternative to the social contract. Postcontractarianism argues that the basis for egalitarianism cannot be grounded on agreement but rather on understanding. Postcontractarianism draws on Jorge Nef’s idea of mutual vulnerability and Obiri (an African theory of cosmology) to argue for the imperative of social equality.

Keywords: postcontractarianism, obiri, mutual vulnerability, egalitarianism, the social contract

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Authors: Myrto Dagkouli-Kyriakoglou

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Southern European countries tend to have a lot of connections in their culture, customs, ideals and attitude towards everyday aspects. On the contrary, all of them demonstrate a lot of differences in their history, political life and economic situation. Nevertheless, the state welfare and its insufficiency to deal with citizens’ needs, is common for the whole region. As the global financial crisis initiated, all of them gradually were affected and established austerity measures. Consequently, there were crucial budget cuts in state welfare and accordingly limited support to the citizens at a time that is most needed as the economic difficulties of the households are rising rapidly. Crisis in connection with austerity measures brought up a housing problem which was hidden for decades with the assistance of the institution of the Southern European family. New or old copying practices concerning housing are already developed and more will rise in order to survive this new era. Expressly, youth is one of the most vulnerable groups in this situation and therefore there is a special focus on the policies that affect their housing as well as their copying practices in connection with the family/kinship strategies.

Keywords: housing, coping practices, Greece, familism

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Authors: Yasemin Ilkay

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Urban spatial pattern interacts with the minds and bodies of citizens and influences their perception and attitudes, which leads to a two-folded map of the same space: physical and Psychogeographic maps. Psychogeography is a field of inquiry (rooted in literature and fiction) investigating how the environment affects the feelings and behaviors of individuals. This term was posed by Situationist International Movement in the 1950s by Guy Debord; in the course of time, the artistic framework evolved into a political issue, especially with the term Dérive, which indicates ‘deviation’ and ‘resistance’ to the existing spatial reality. The term Dérive appeared on the track of Flânéur after one hundred years; and turned out to be a political tool to transform everyday urban life. The three main concepts of psychogeography [walking, dérive, and palimpsest] construct the epistemological framework for a psychogeographic spatial analysis. Mental representations investigating this framework would provide a designer to capture the invisible layers of the gap between ‘how a space is conceived’ and ‘how the same space is perceived and experienced.’ This gap is a neglected but critical issue to discuss in the planning discipline, and psychogeography provides methodological inputs to cover the interrelation among top-down designs of urban patterning and bottom-up reproductions of ‘the soul’ of urban space at the intersection of geography and psychology. City centers and university campuses exemplify opposite poles of spatial organization and walking practice, which may result in differentiated spatial appropriation forms. There is a traditional city center in Van, located at the core of the city with a dense population and several activities, but not connected to Van Lake, which is the largest lake in the country. On the other hand, the university campus is located at the periphery, and although it has a promenade along the lake’s coast and a regional hospital, it presents a limited walking experience with ambiguous forms of spatial appropriation. The city center draws a vivid urban everyday life; however, the campus presents a relatively natural life far away from the center. This paper aims to reveal the differentiated psychogeographic maps of spatial appropriation at the city center vs. the university campus, which is located at the periphery of the city and along the coast of the largest lake in Turkey. The main question of the paper is, “how do the psychogeographic maps of spatial appropriation differentiate at the city center and university campus in Van within the walking experience with reference to the two-folded map assumption.” The experiential maps of a core group of 15 planning students will be created with the techniques of mental mapping, photographing, and narratives through attentive walks conducted together on selected routes; in addition to these attentive walks, 30 more in-depth interviews will be conducted by the core group. The narrative of psychogeographic mapping of spatial appropriation at the two spatial poles would display the conflicting soul of the city with reference to sub-behavioural regions of walking, differentiated forms of derive and layers of palimpsest.

Keywords: attentive walk, body, cognitive geography, derive, experiential maps, psychogeography, Van, Turkey

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Authors: Pat Nelson

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Since the release of the 21^st century policing report in the United States, the techniques of de-escalation have received a lot of attention and focus in political systems, policy changes, and the media. The challenge in professional peace officer education is that there is a vast range of defining de-escalation and understanding the various techniques involved, many of which are based on popular media. This research surveyed professional peace officer education university students on their definition of de-escalation and the techniques associated with de-escalation before specific communications coursework was completed. The students were then surveyed after the communication coursework was completed to determine the changes in defining and understanding de-escalation techniques. This research has found that clearly defining de-escalation and emphasizing the broad range of techniques available enhances the students’ understanding and application of proper de-escalation. This research demonstrates the need for professional peace officer education to move students from media concepts of law enforcement to theoretical concepts.

Keywords: criminal justice education, communication theory, de-escalation, peace officer communication

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Authors: Satish Y. Deodhar

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Science without history is like a man without memory. The colossal history of India stores many ideas on economic ethics and public policy, which have been forgotten in the course of time. This paper is an attempt to bring to the fore contributions from ancient Indian treatises. In this context, the paper briefly summarizes alternative economic ideas such as communism, capitalism, and the holistic approach of ancient Indian writings. Thereafter, the idea of a welfare brick for an individual consisting of three dimensions -Purusharthas, Ashramas, and Varnas is discussed. Given the contours of the welfare brick, the concept of the state, its economic policies, markets, prices, interest rates, and credit are covered next. This is followed by delving into the treatment of land, property rights, guilds, and labour relations. The penultimate section summarises the economic advice offered to the head of a household in the treatise Shukranitisara. Finally, in concluding comments, the relevance of ancient Indian writings for modern times is discussed -both for pedagogy and economic policies.

Keywords: ancient Indian treatises, history of economic thought, science of political economy, Sanskrit

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Authors: James Moir

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This paper considers the political controversy in Britain, both pre- and post-EU referendum, concerning claims over welfare benefit tourism and immigration in the UK. These claims were seen to be a significant reason for the vote for Brexit despite evidence to the contrary that benefit tourism was not, and is not, implicated in the migration of East Europeans to the UK. Populist rhetoric is analysed alongside studies that contradict such views. These contentious issues are examined with respect to the agenda set by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) concerning anti-EU and anti-immigrant sentiment and the notion of cultural differences as the basis for supporting Brexit. The paper also examines the paradoxical claim that East European migrants are taking British jobs and driving down wages. Taken together, it is argued that these two kinds of claims effectively contribute to anti-immigration discourse based on the logic of economics, but also at the same time conceal more irrational fears of adapting to change through the inclusion of others. Such fears are considered as being founded upon a challenge to the stability of totems of national life and identity.

Keywords: benefits, Brexit, immigration, tourism, welfare

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Authors: Ronit Chakraborty, Sugata Banerji

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There has been a marked increase in the reported prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among children in the US over the past two decades. This research has analyzed the growth in state-level ASD prevalence against 45 different potentially explanatory factors, including socio-economic, demographic, healthcare, public policy, and political factors. The goal was to understand if these factors have adequate predictive power in modeling the differential growth in ASD prevalence across various states and if they do, which factors are the most influential. The key findings of this study include (1) the confirmation that the chosen feature set has considerable power in predicting the growth in ASD prevalence, (2) the identification of the most influential predictive factors, (3) given the nature of the most influential predictive variables, an indication that a considerable portion of the reported ASD prevalence differentials across states could be attributable to over and under diagnosis, and (4) identification of Florida as a key outlier state pointing to a potential under-diagnosis of ASD there.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, clustering, machine learning, predictive modeling

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Authors: Gabriel Jinga, Madalina Dumitru

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The objective of this paper is to present the process of change in management accounting in Romania, a former communist country from Eastern Europe. In order to explain this process, we used the contingency and institutional theories. We focused on the following directions: the presentation of the scientific context and motivation of this research and the case study. We presented the state of the art in the process of change in the management accounting from the international and national perspective. We also described the evolution of management accounting in Romania in the context of economic and political changes. An important moment was the fall of communism in 1989. This represents a starting point for a new economic environment and for new management accounting. Accordingly, we developed a case study which presented this evolution. The conclusion of our research was that the changes in the management accounting system of the company analysed occurred in the same time with the institutionalization of some elements (e.g. degree of competition, training and competencies in management accounting). The management accounting system was modeled by the contingencies specific to this company (e.g. environment, industry, strategy).

Keywords: management accounting, change, Romania, contingency, institutional theory

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Authors: Sunayana Basu Mallik, Shishira Prakash

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The inclusion of Rights of Author (Moral and Personal Rights) resonate the century long battle of rights of authors, composers, performers across developed and developing countries (whether following civil law or common law systems). But, the juxtaposition of author’s special, moral, personal rights within the legislative framework of Copyright statutes (Indian Copyright Act, 1957, applicable statutes) underscores the foundational role of the right which goes to the root of the constitutional structure of India and philosophies of political and literary leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore. In the pre-independence era when the concept of moral rights was unknown to both England and India’s statutory laws, the strategic deployment method of Gandhi, his ideologies and thoughts scripted the concept of moral rights for authors/composers. The preservation of Rabindric Style (Characteristic Tagore’s vocal renditions) by Vishwabharati University (successor in interest for Tagore’s literary and musical compositions) prior to the Copyright Amendment of 1999 recognizing Author’s Special Rights in line with 6bis of Berne Convention invigorates the fact that the right existed intrinsically prior to the legislative amendment. The paper would in addition to the academic probe carry out an empirical enquiry of the institution’s (Navjivan Trust and Vishwa Bharati University’s) reasoning on the same. The judicial discourse and transforming constitutional ideals between 1950s till date in India alludes Moral Rights to be an essential legal right which have been reasoned by Indian Courts based on the underlying philosophies in culture, customs, religion wherein composers and literary figures have played key roles in enlightening and encouraging the members of society through their literary, musical and artistic work during pre-independence renaissance of India. The discourses have been influenced by the philosophies reflected in the preamble of the Indian constitution, ‘socialist, secular, democratic republic’ and laws of other civil law countries. Lastly, the paper would analyze the adjudication process and witness involvement in ascertaining violations of moral rights and further summarize the indigenous and country specific economic thoughts that often chisel decisions on moral rights of authors, composers, performers which sometimes intersect with author’s right of privacy and against defamation. The exclusivity contracts or other arrangements between authors, composers and publishing companies not only have an erosive effect on each thread of moral rights but irreparably dents factors that promote creativity. The paper would also be review these arrangements in view of the principles of unjust enrichment, unfair trade practices, anti-competitive behavior and breach of Section 27 (Restrain of Trade) of Indian Contract Act, 1857. The paper will thus lay down the three pillars on which author’s rights in India should namely rest, (a) political and judicial discourse evolving principles supporting moral rights of authors; (b) amendment and insertion of Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957; (c) overall constitutional framework supporting author’s rights.

Keywords: copyright, moral rights, performer’s rights, personal rights

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Authors: Zahra Afshordi

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Instagram, as an everyday life social network, hosts from the ultrasound image of an unborn fetus to the pictures of newly placed gravestones and funerals. It is a platform that allows its users to create a second identity independently from and at the same time in relation to the real space identity. The motives behind this identification are what this article is about. This article studies the motivations of Instagram users mourning for celebrities with a focus on the death of MohammadReza Shajarian. The Shajarian’s death had a wide reflection on Instagram Persian-speaking users. The purpose of this qualitative survey is to comprehend and study the user’s motivations in posting mourning and memorializing content. The methodology of the essay is a hybrid methodology consisting of content analysis and open-ended interviews. The results highlight that users' motives are more than just simple sympathy and include political protest, gaining cultural capital, reaching social status, and escaping from solitude.

Keywords: case study, celebrity, identity, Instagram, mourning, qualitative survey

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Authors: Esmaeil Khodadad

Abstract:

The environment is one of the hotbeds of global politics. It is only necessary to emphasize the human being on this word, and to take it as a serious political-social debate, so as to prevent the collapse of the harmony of the system of nature governing the earth, the landlord and its creatures. Earth, water and humans are three interconnected arms that should be kept in balance and harmony. The collapse of one of these arms disrupts the entire framework of the philosophy of life on earth. Environmental issues were found worldwide in the late 20th century and were given serious attention by experts. At the same time, international environmental issues have brought to the forefront the challenges of international relations. These ideas have introduced environmental issues and some of the main features of the causes and consequences of global environmental change, as well as ways to deal with this change Has been discussed. The objectives of this study are environmental issues in the world and in Iran, and it shows what factors contribute to the formation of spatial systems and its supporting systems, and finally what the goals should be about the ideal state of the future of the global environment and its issues. The information required for this research is a combination of documentary, descriptive-analytical and library methods.

Keywords: environment, environmental issues, flower, oeacen

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