Search results for: rights and freedoms of the person
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2746

Search results for: rights and freedoms of the person

1156 Runaway Girl Children and the Reasons: Qualitative Study in Government Girls Home Bangalore

Authors: Hazel Johanna J., Ntailang Mary Tariang

Abstract:

The paper “Runaway Girl Children and the Reasons: Qualitative Study In Government Girls Home Bangalore” explores the different reasons why children choose this last resort of running away rather than seeking proper help from the authorities. A qualitative study using a purposive sampling method was used to identify the participants based on the objectives. Girl runaway children between the age group of 12-18 years admitted to the Government Girls Home, Bangalore, were chosen for this study. Data was collected through in-depth interviews using semi-structured questions. Thematic analysis has been done using QDA Miner Lite. The main objectives of this study were to identify the reasons behind running away in children, to explore their childhood experiences and future dreams after they leave the Child Care Institution. The findings of this study derived five major themes that have caused the children to run away from their homes. The themes are child maltreatment and dysfunctional families, coerced into adulthood, forced work, adolescent dalliance, and aspirations. As a result, all the themes that emerged here are related to the family in one way or another. In conclusion, it is revealed that interpersonal family conflicts lead to the violation of child rights in so many ways, which in this context leads the child to run away from the comfort of their home.

Keywords: runaway children, dysfunctional family, abuse, child marriage, education

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1155 Judicial Personality: Observing the Acceptable Limits

Authors: Sonia Anand Knowlton

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In many ways, judges can express their personality within and beyond their role as a judge. Judges can use their unique backgrounds and life experiences to inform their legal reasons and can also participate in certain extrajudicial activities outside of their role on the bench. For many judges, the line between the expression of this judicial personality, on the one hand, and the consequence of jeopardizing the public’s perception of their impartiality, on the other, is ambiguous if not wholly unclear. In the famous Canadian decision R v RDS, for instance, a Black judge who was hearing a case about police violence against a Black person was accused of being biased after she acknowledged that her community’s racial dynamics may have impacted the police’s conduct. Many within the legal community might find comfort in the belief that judges do not need to bring their ‘personality’ to the bench in order to uncover the law’s truths and impartially apply it. Indeed, and for a good reason, judges are often discouraged from allowing their personality to shine through in their role as a judge – because the expression of judicial personality can compromise the public perception of the impartiality of the administration of justice. This paper evaluates the theoretical constraints on the expression of judicial personality as a tool for legal decision-making and argues that judges from minority groups are held to a higher level of impartiality. Specifically, minority judges are disproportionately constrained from 1) using life experience to apply the law and 2) engaging in certain extrajudicial activities.

Keywords: judging, legal decision making, judicial personality, extrajudicial activities

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1154 Sociolinguistic and Critical Discourse Analysis of Nigerian Proverbs: The Differences between the Representation of the Genders

Authors: Crescentia Ugwuona

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Considering the importance of proverbs in socio-cultural life through socialization in any given society, it is deemed important for people to understand the hidden meanings that proverbs may convey. So far, there has been hardly any systematic research in the representation of different genders in Nigeria. Although there are writings on the representation of women in Nigerian proverbs, they are based on the writers’ introspection. Beyond that, investigators often tend to overlook the representations of men in proverbs. This study therefore explores from the perspective of sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis (CDA) how different genders (men and women) are represented in Nigerian proverbs with particular reference to Igbo-Nigerians; with the aim of uncovering hidden gender inequalities that exist in them. The analysis reveals that Igbo proverbs consistently perpetuate an ideology of gender inequality, that is, male proverbs depict male achievements, power, bravery, and male supremacy; while that of female connotes their submissions to cultural and traditional female domestic roles, chastity, less competent, and women subjugation. The study alerts to how gendered language in proverbs can reflect, create, and sustain gender inequality in societies; and contributes to an education aimed at gender equality, emancipator practice of appropriate language in proverbs, respect for human rights; and of the need to develop strategies for addressing the problem.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, gender representation, gender stereotypes, Igbo-Nigerian, sociolinguistics analysis, proverbs

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1153 Number Variation of the Personal Pronoun we Used by Chinese English Learners

Authors: Qiong Hu, Ming Yue

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Language variation signals the newest usage of language community, which might become the developmental trend of that language. However, language textbooks cannot keep up with these emergent usages. Most Chinese English learners nowadays are still exposed to traditional grammar prescribed in the textbook so that some variational usages cannot be acquired. The personal pronoun we is prescribed as a plural pronoun in the textbook grammar, but its number value is more flexible in actual use. Based on the Chinese Learner English Corpus (CLEC), and with the homemade Friends corpus as reference, the present research explores the number value of the first person pronoun we used by Chinese English learners. With consideration of the subjectivity of we, this paper annotated the number value of all the wes in “we+ PCU (Perception-cognation-utterance) verbs” collocations. Results show that though exposed to traditional textbooks which prescribe the plural reference of we, there still exists some unconventional usage (singular or vague in reference) in the writings of Chinese English learners, which is less frequent than that of the native speeches. Corpus data and results from manual semantic annotation show that this could be due to the impact of formulaic sequence on the learners and the positive transfer from their native language. An improved SLA model of native language, target language and interlanguage is put forward to recognize the existence of variation in second language acquisition, which should be given more attention during teaching.

Keywords: Chinese English learners, number, PCU verbs, Personal pronoun we

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1152 Disability Prevalence and Health among 60+ Population in India

Authors: Surendra Kumar Patel

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Disability is not just a health problem; it is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s age and physiology. Population ageing is a major demographic issue for India in the 21st century. Older population of India constituted 8% of total population, while 5.19% has affected by disability of older age group. Objective of the present research paper is to examine the state wise differential in disability among 60+ population and to access the health care of disabled population especially the 60+ disabled persons. The data sources of the present paper are census 2001 and 2011. For analyzing the state wise differentials by disability types and comparative advantage of data, rate, ratio, and percentage have been used. The Standardized Index of Diversity of Disability (SIDD) studies differential and diversity in disability. The results show that there are 5.19% persons have disability among 60+ population and sex differential not very significant, as it is 5.3 % of male and 5.05% in female in India but place of residence shows significant variation from 2001 to 2011 census. There is huge diversity in disability prevalence among 60+ in India, highest in Sikkim followed by Rajasthan, approximately, they comprise 11%, and the lowest found in Tamil Nadu as 2.53%. This huge gap in prevalence percentage shows the health care needs of highly prevailing states.

Keywords: disability, Standardized Index of Diversity of Disability (SIDD), differential and diversity in disability, 60+ population

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1151 The Role of Physical Activity on Some Factors Affecting Cardiovascular Disease

Authors: M. J. Pourvaghar, M. E. Bahram, Sh. Khoshemehry

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Hyperlipidemia or an increase in blood lipids is a condition that has been rising, especially during the last decade, with the advancement of the life-span of the car, as an important disease. In fact, it is one of the complications of industrial life and semi-industrial. Hyperlipidemia alone is not a disease, but it is recognized as an important risk factor for coronary artery disease. The methodology of this review article is the use of research to provide the best solution for physical activity and exercise in relation to lowering blood lipids and lowering blood pressure. Also, factors that contribute to improving the health status of humans should be introduced. Research findings in this article show that physical activity with a specific duration and severity can keep a person away from the cardiovascular disease. The result shows that regular physical activity with low intensity and long periods of time is essential for human health. Physical mobility reduces blood pressure, reduces the harmful fats and does not cause cardiovascular disease. More than half of the patients suffering from cardiovascular problems are afflicted with blood lipids. On the other hand, high blood pressure is one of the serious health hazards in the world today, which causes a large number of cardiovascular problems and mortality in the world. Undoubtedly, the second most common risk factor for heart disease is high blood pressure after cigarette smoking.

Keywords: blood pressure, cardiovascular, hyperlipidemia, risk factor

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1150 Challenges of Technical and Engineering Students in the Application of Scientific Cancer Knowledge to Preserve the Future Generation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Authors: K. Shaloom Mbambu, M. Pascal Tshimbalanga, K. Ruth Mutala, K. Roger Kabuya, N. Dieudonné Kabeya, Y. L. Kabeya Mukeba

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In this article, the authors examine the even more worrying situation of girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Two-girls on five are private of Global Education, which represents a real loss to the development of communities and countries. Cultural traditions, poverty, violence, early and forced marriages, early pregnancies, and many other gender inequalities were the causes of this cancer development. Namely, "it is no more efficient development tool that is educating girls." The non-schooling of girls and their lack of supervision by liberal professions have serious consequences for the life of each of them. To improve the conditions of their inferior status, girls to men introduce poverty and health risks. Raising awareness among parents and communities on the importance of girls' education, improving children's access to school, girl-boy equality with their rights, creating income, and generating activities for girls, girls, and girls learning of liberal trades to make them self-sufficient. Organizations such as the United Nations Organization can save the children. ASEAD and the AEDA group are predicting the impact of this cancer on the development of a nation's future generation must be preserved.

Keywords: young girl, Sub-Saharan Africa, higher and vocational education, development, society, environment

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1149 Barriers That Special Education Teachers Faced When Working with Students with Intellectual Disabilities in an Inclusion Schools

Authors: Faris Algahtani

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Every child has a right to education. This is one of the laws in the constitution and it empowers every child to access knowledge but it does not, however, allocate special interest to the rights of education for children with disabilities. It also does not address the challenges that teachers of such children face while trying to educate them. This study was conducted at government schools of Saudi Arabia. As the teaching profession is the most valuable profession and deserves to have its challenges tackled. This paper explores the challenges that teachers face as they try to teach students who have intellectual disabilities (ID). It looks at the daily challenges of a teacher who has to teach both children with disabilities and those without. The literature review shed light on the various aspects of mainstream education from the classroom to the outside environment to the teachers involved in mainstream education. The study employed qualitative methods in which Focus Group Discussions were utilized and Twenty (N=20) special education teachers were randomly sampled from primary schools through 6 groups of teachers from 6 different schools were interviewed through semi-structured interviews with the aim of drawing collective perceptions rather than personal perceptions about the challenges. The study found that most teachers had similar perceptions about the challenges that teachers face as they educate students with intellectual disabilities. The study recommends that The Ministry of Education should consider increasing the availability of special needs courses, workshops and conference for special education teachers.

Keywords: intellectual disabilities, inclusion, mainstream schools, disabilities, special education teachers

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1148 Artificial Intelligence Impact on the Australian Government Public Sector

Authors: Jessica Ho

Abstract:

AI has helped government, businesses and industries transform the way they do things. AI is used in automating tasks to improve decision-making and efficiency. AI is embedded in sensors and used in automation to help save time and eliminate human errors in repetitive tasks. Today, we saw the growth in AI using the collection of vast amounts of data to forecast with greater accuracy, inform decision-making, adapt to changing market conditions and offer more personalised service based on consumer habits and preferences. Government around the world share the opportunity to leverage these disruptive technologies to improve productivity while reducing costs. In addition, these intelligent solutions can also help streamline government processes to deliver more seamless and intuitive user experiences for employees and citizens. This is a critical challenge for NSW Government as we are unable to determine the risk that is brought by the unprecedented pace of adoption of AI solutions in government. Government agencies must ensure that their use of AI complies with relevant laws and regulatory requirements, including those related to data privacy and security. Furthermore, there will always be ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI, such as the potential for bias, intellectual property rights and its impact on job security. Within NSW’s public sector, agencies are already testing AI for crowd control, infrastructure management, fraud compliance, public safety, transport, and police surveillance. Citizens are also attracted to the ease of use and accessibility of AI solutions without requiring specialised technical skills. This increased accessibility also comes with balancing a higher risk and exposure to the health and safety of citizens. On the other side, public agencies struggle with keeping up with this pace while minimising risks, but the low entry cost and open-source nature of generative AI led to a rapid increase in the development of AI powered apps organically – “There is an AI for That” in Government. Other challenges include the fact that there appeared to be no legislative provisions that expressly authorise the NSW Government to use an AI to make decision. On the global stage, there were too many actors in the regulatory space, and a sovereign response is needed to minimise multiplicity and regulatory burden. Therefore, traditional corporate risk and governance framework and regulation and legislation frameworks will need to be evaluated for AI unique challenges due to their rapidly evolving nature, ethical considerations, and heightened regulatory scrutiny impacting the safety of consumers and increased risks for Government. Creating an effective, efficient NSW Government’s governance regime, adapted to the range of different approaches to the applications of AI, is not a mere matter of overcoming technical challenges. Technologies have a wide range of social effects on our surroundings and behaviours. There is compelling evidence to show that Australia's sustained social and economic advancement depends on AI's ability to spur economic growth, boost productivity, and address a wide range of societal and political issues. AI may also inflict significant damage. If such harm is not addressed, the public's confidence in this kind of innovation will be weakened. This paper suggests several AI regulatory approaches for consideration that is forward-looking and agile while simultaneously fostering innovation and human rights. The anticipated outcome is to ensure that NSW Government matches the rising levels of innovation in AI technologies with the appropriate and balanced innovation in AI governance.

Keywords: artificial inteligence, machine learning, rules, governance, government

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1147 Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data Versus Quality Data Assurance in the Healthcare System Case Report

Authors: Elizabeta Krstić Vukelja

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Digitization of personal data is a consequence of the development of information and communication technologies that create a new work environment with many advantages and challenges, but also potential threats to privacy and personal data protection. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council is becoming a law and obligation that should address the issues of personal data protection and information security. The existence of the Regulation leads to the conclusion that national legislation in the field of virtual environment, protection of the rights of EU citizens and processing of their personal data is insufficiently effective. In the health system, special emphasis is placed on the processing of special categories of personal data, such as health data. The healthcare industry is recognized as a particularly sensitive area in which a large amount of medical data is processed, the digitization of which enables quick access and quick identification of the health insured. The protection of the individual requires quality IT solutions that guarantee the technical protection of personal categories. However, the real problems are the technical and human nature and the spatial limitations of the application of the Regulation. Some conclusions will be drawn by analyzing the implementation of the basic principles of the Regulation on the example of the Croatian health care system and comparing it with similar activities in other EU member states.

Keywords: regulation, healthcare system, personal dana protection, quality data assurance

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1146 The Impact of Quality Management System Establishment over the Performance of Public Administration Services in Kosovo

Authors: Ilir Rexhepi, Naim Ismajli

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Quality and quality management are key factors of success nowadays. Public sector and quality management in this sector contains many challenges and difficulties, most notably in a new country like Kosovo. This study analyses the process of implementation of quality management system in public administration institutions in this country. The main objective is to show how to set up a quality management system and how does the quality management system setup affect the overall public administration services in Kosovo. This study shows how the efficiency and effectiveness of public institution services/performance is rapidly improving through the establishment and functionalization of Quality Management System. The specific impact of established QMC within the organization has resulted with the identification of mission related processes within the entire system including input identification, the person in charge and the way of conversion to the output of each activity though the interference with other service processes within the system. By giving detailed analyses of all steps of implementation of the Quality Management System, its effect and consequences towards the overall public institution service performance, we try to go one step further, by showing it as a very good example or tool of other public institutions for improving their service performance. Interviews with employees, middle and high level managers including the quality manager and general secretaries are also part of analyses in this paper.

Keywords: quality, quality management system, efficiency, public administration institutions

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1145 Relationship Between Collegiality and the EQ of Leaders

Authors: Prakash Singh

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Being a collegial leader would require such a person to promote an organizational passion that identifies and acknowledges the contribution of every employee. Collegiality is about sharing responsibilities and being accountable for one’s actions. Leaders must therefore be equipped with the knowledge, skills, abilities, beliefs, and dispositions that will allow them to succeed in their organizations. These abilities should not only dwell on cognition alone, but also, equally, on the development of their emotional intelligence (EQ). It is therefore a myth that leaders are entrusted with absolute power to manage all the resources of their organizations. Workers feel confident with leaders who are adaptable, flexible and supportive when it comes to shared decision-making and the devolution of power within the organization. Research strongly supports the notion that a leader requires a high level of EQ in addition to IQ (cognitive intelligence) to achieve the goals of the organization. On the other hand, traditional managers require cognitive abilities and technical skills to get the work done by their employees. This does not imply that management is not important in organizations. However, the approach of managers becomes highly critical when the focus is purely task orientated. Enabling or empowering employees, therefore, is an important aspect in establishing emotionally intelligent collaboration, as the willing and satisfied participation of the employees can be the result of leaders’ commitment to establishing a collegial working environment as demonstrated by their behaviours. This paper therefore analyses why it matters for ideal leaders to be imbued with the traits of EQ and collegiality.

Keywords: collegiality, emotional intelligence, empowering employees, traditional managers

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1144 Good Death as Perceived by the Critically Ill Patients' Family Member

Authors: Wanlapa Kunsongkeit

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When a person gets sick, he or she goes to hospital for the treatment. In the case of severe illness, there might be no hope for some patients to recover. In this state, the patients will face anxiety and fear. These feelings make the patients suffer in mind until the time of death or called bad death. These feeling also directly effect to family members who are loved ones and significant persons of the patients. They can help the dying patients to have good death. From literature reviews, many studies focused on good death in patients and nurses. Little is known about good death in family member. Therefore, the qualitative research based on Heideggerian phenomenology aimed to describe good death as perceived by the critically ill patients’ family members. Five informants who were the critically ill patients’ family members at hospital in Chonburi were purposively selected. Data were collected by in-depth interview, observation and critical reflection during January, 2014 to March, 2014 . Cohen, Kahn and Steeves’s (2000) steps guided data analysis. Trustworthiness was maintained throughout the study following Lincoln and Guba’s guidelines. Four themes were emerged, which were no suffering, acceptance of imminent death, preparing for death, and being with the family. This findings provide deep understanding of good death as perceived by the critically ill patients’ family members. It can be basic information for nurses to provide good death nursing care and further explore for development of knowledge regarding good death nursing care.

Keywords: good death, family member, critically ill patient, phenomenology

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1143 Working Together: The Nature of Collaborative Legal and Social Services and Their Influence on Practice

Authors: Jennifer Donovan

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Practice collaborations between legal assistance and social support services have emerged as a growing framework worldwide for delivering services to clients with high degrees of disadvantage, vulnerability and complexity. In Australia, the past five years has seen a significant growth in these socio-legal collaborations, with programs being delivered through legal, social service and health organizations and addressing a range of issues including mental health, immigration, parental child abduction and domestic violence. This presentation is based on research currently mapping the nature of these collaborations in Australia and exploring the influence that collaborating professions are having on each other’s practice. In a similar way to problem-solving courts being seen as a systematic take up of therapeutic jurisprudence in the court setting, socio-legal collaborations have the potential to be a systematic take up of therapeutic jurisprudence in an advice setting. This presentation will explore the varied ways in which socio-legal collaboration is being implemented in these programs. It will also explore the development of interdisciplinary therapeutic jurisprudence within them, with preliminary findings suggesting that both legal and social service practice is being influenced by the collaborative setting, with legal practice showing a more therapeutic orientation and social service professions, such as social work, moving toward a legal and rights orientation.

Keywords: collaboration, socio-legal, Australia, therapeutic jurisprudence

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1142 Children's Participation in the Everyday Life of the Early Childhood Institution - Action Research

Authors: lidija Vujičić, Akvilina Čamber Tambolas

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The increasinginterest of ECCE policyandpractice in the issue of children'sparticipation in theirownlivesis a consequence of the changingimage of the childand the shift in focus to thechild as anactive participant in socio-culturalrealityinstead of theearlierfocus on thechild'sindividual development.TheConvention on the Rights of theChild (1989) stronglysupportstheimage of thechild as a competent participant in education - capable of formingopinions, withtheright to expressthemselves on allmattersaffectingthe mand with the right to haveadultsaroundthemrespectthis. Notwithstandingthecontemporaryparadigm of ECCE, however, achievements in thisarea are still in theirinfancy. This is evident in thepractices of ECCE, whereearlyyearsandpre-schoolchildren are stillseen as users of systemsandservicesratherthanagents of change in theirsocialcommunities. Recent literature identifiestheneed for lifelong, continuouslearning of preschoolteachersthroughresearchintotheirownpedagogicalpractice as aneffectiveway of bridgingthegapbetweentheoryandpracticeandcontinuouslyimprovingthequality of ECCE institutions. Notwithstandingthecontemporaryparadigm of ECCE, however, achievements in thisarea are still in theirinfancy. Recent literature identifiestheneed for lifelong, continuouslearning of preschoolteachersthroughresearchintotheirownpedagogicalpractice as aneffectiveway bridgingthegapbetweentheoryandpracticeandcontinuouslyimprovingthequality of ECCE institutions. Thispaperpresentstheprocess of actionresearchaimed at increasingchildren'sparticipation in (co-)designingthekindergartencurriculumandparticipation in decision-making on issuesaffectingtheirstay in theinstitution. Thisactionresearchtook place in 2 facilities of theinstitution ECCE - DV Rijeka. In thisresearchparticipated 5 preschoolteachersworking in 4 pedagogicalgroups, where childrenfrom 2 to 7 yearsold are enrolled. Also, the process of development of reflexivepractice of preschoolteacherswhoparticipated in thisresearchispresented.

Keywords: action research, co-construction of curriculum, participation of children, reflexive practice

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1141 Dynamic Analysis and Design of Lower Extremity Power-Assisted Exoskeleton

Authors: Song Shengli, Tan Zhitao, Li Qing, Fang Husheng, Ye Qing, Zhang Xinglong

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Lower extremity power-assisted exoskeleton (LEPEX) is a kind of wearable electromechanical integration intelligent system, walking in synchronization with the wearer, which can assist the wearer walk by means of the driver mounted in the exoskeleton on each joint. In this paper, dynamic analysis and design of the LEPEX are performed. First of all, human walking process is divided into single leg support phase, double legs support phase and ground collision model. The three kinds of dynamics modeling is established using the Lagrange method. Then, the flat walking and climbing stairs dynamic information such as torque and power of lower extremity joints is derived for loading 75kg according to scholar Stansfield measured data of flat walking and scholars R. Riener measured data of climbing stair respectively. On this basis, the joint drive way in the sagittal plane is determined, and the structure of LEPEX is designed. Finally, the designed LEPEX is simulated under ADAMS by using a person’s joint sports information acquired under flat walking and climbing stairs. The simulation result effectively verified the correctness of the structure.

Keywords: kinematics, lower extremity exoskeleton, simulation, structure

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1140 Judicial Institutions in a Post-Conflict Society: Gaining Legitimacy through a Holistic Reform

Authors: Abdul Salim Amin

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This paper focuses on how judiciaries in post-conflict society gain legitimacy through reformation. Legitimacy plays a pivotal role in shaping peoples’ behavior to submit to the law and verifies the rightfulness of an organ for taking binding decisions. Among various dynamics, judicial independence, access to justice and behavioral changes of the judicial officials broadly contribute in legitimation of judiciary in general, and the court in particular. Increasing the independence of judiciary through reform limits the interference of governmental branches in judicial issues and protects basic rights of the citizens. Judicial independence does not only matter in institutional terms, individual independence also influences the impartiality and integrity of judges, which can be increased through education and better administration of justice. Finally, access to justice as an intertwined concept both at the legal and moral spectrum of judicial reform avails justice to the citizen and increases the level of public trust and confidence. Efficient legal decisions on fostering such elements through holistic reform create a rule of law atmosphere. Citizens do not accept illegitimate judiciary and do not trust its decisions. Lack of such tolerance and confidence deters the rule of law and, thus, undermines the democratic development of a society.

Keywords: legitimacy, judicial reform, judicial independence, access to justice, legal training, informal justice, rule of law

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1139 A Review on Using Executive Function to Understand the Limited Efficacy of Weight-Loss Interventions

Authors: H. Soltani, Kevin Laugero

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Obesity is becoming an increasingly critical issue in the United States due to the steady and substantial increase in prevalence over the last 30 years. Existing interventions have been able to help participants achieve short-term weight loss, but have failed to show long-term results. The complex nature of behavioral change remains one of the most difficult barriers in promoting sustainable weight-loss in overweight individuals. Research suggests that the 'intention-behavior gap' can be explained by a person’s ability to regulate higher-order thinking, or Executive Function (EF). A review of 63 research articles was completed in fall of 2017 to identify the role of EF in regulating eating behavior and to identify whether there is a potential for improving dietary quality by enhancing EF. Results showed that poor EF is positively associated with obesogenic behavior, namely increased consumption of highly palatable foods, eating in the absence of hunger, high saturated fat intake and low fruit and vegetable consumption. Recent research has indicated that interventions targeting an improvement in EF can be successful in helping promote healthy behaviors. Furthermore, interventions of longer duration have a more lasting and versatile effect on weight loss and maintenance. This may present an opportunity for the increasingly ubiquitous use of mobile application technology.

Keywords: eating behavior, executive function, nutrition, obesity, weight-loss

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1138 Vision-Based Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Recurrent Neural Networks

Authors: Yao-Hong Tsai

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Due to the sensor technology, video surveillance has become the main way for security control in every big city in the world. Surveillance is usually used by governments for intelligence gathering, the prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigation of crime. Many surveillance systems based on computer vision technology have been developed in recent years. Moving target tracking is the most common task for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to find and track objects of interest in mobile aerial surveillance for civilian applications. The paper is focused on vision-based collision avoidance for UAVs by recurrent neural networks. First, images from cameras on UAV were fused based on deep convolutional neural network. Then, a recurrent neural network was constructed to obtain high-level image features for object tracking and extracting low-level image features for noise reducing. The system distributed the calculation of the whole system to local and cloud platform to efficiently perform object detection, tracking and collision avoidance based on multiple UAVs. The experiments on several challenging datasets showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, object tracking, deep learning, collision avoidance

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1137 Anthropocentric and Ecocentric Representation of Human-Environment Relationship in Paulo Coelho's the Alchemist

Authors: Tooba Sabir, Namra Sabir, Mohammad Amjad Sabir

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The human-environment relationship has been projected since the beginning of literary tradition i.e. pastoral tradition, however, the interest of critics, writers and poets, in this view, has been developed, since the last couple of decades because of the increasing scope of environmental studies and growing environmental issues. One such novel, that projects human-environment relationship, is ‘The Alchemist.’ It is Paulo Coelho’s one of the most read novels. It holds a central theme that the universe conspires to help a person achieve his destiny, projecting anthropocentrism and human domination by centralizing human and devaluing the intrinsic worth of ecosystem. However, ecocritical analysis of the text reveals that the novel contains, at several instances, ecocentrism as well e.g. ‘everything on earth is being continuously transformed because earth is alive.’ This portrays ecosphere as living and dynamic entity rather than a mere instrument for human to achieve his destiny. The idea that the universe shares the same language projects unity of nature showing the relationship between human and non-human aspects of the environment as one being and not separate or superior to one another. It depicts human as a part of the environment and not the lord of the world. Therefore, it can be concluded that the novel oscillates between both the ecocentric and the anthropocentric phenomena. It is not suggested, however, that one phenomenon should be valued over the other but that the complexities of both the phenomena should be recognized, acknowledged and valued in order to encourage the interactions between literature and environment.

Keywords: anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, ecocritical analysis, human-environment relationship

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1136 An Investigation of the Effects of Emotional Experience Induction on Mirror Neurons System Activity with Regard to Spectrum of Depressive Symptoms

Authors: Elyas Akbari, Jafar Hasani, Newsha Dehestani, Mohammad Khaleghi, Alireza Moradi

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The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of emotional experience induction in the mirror neurons systems (MNS) activity with regard to the spectrum of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, at first stage, 449 students of Kharazmi University of Tehran were selected randomly and completed the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Then, 36 students with standard Z-score equal or above +1.5 and equal or equal or below -1.5 were selected to construct two groups of high and low spectrum of depressive symptoms. In the next stage, the basic activity of MNS was recorded (mu wave) before presenting the positive and negative emotional video clips by Electroencephalography (EEG) technique. The findings related to emotion induction (neutral, negative and positive emotion) demonstrated that the activity of recorded mirror neuron areas had a significant difference between the depressive and non-depressive groups. These findings suggest that probably processing of negative emotions in depressive individuals is due to the idea that the mirror neurons in motor cortex matched up the activity of cognitive regions with the person’s schema. Considering the results of the present study, it could be said that the MNS provides a substrate where emotional disorders can be studied and evaluated.

Keywords: emotional experiences, mirror neurons, depressive symptoms, negative and positive emotion

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1135 Multidisciplinary Training of Social Work and Applied Drama: From the Perspective of the Third Space

Authors: Yen Yi Huang

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This paper aims to explore the application of strategies in applied drama to the social work education arena in order to enhance students' creativity, curiosity, and aesthetic sensitivity. Also, applied drama is used as a means to facilitate students' reflection-in-action and improve their understanding of issues on creative aging, gender equality, human rights, bullying, and prejudice. This paper mainly uses the perspective of Homi K. Bhabha's third space to explore the impact of applied drama and social work training on students. First, it focuses on how students create new understandings and insights in the third space of multidisciplinary training studies. Second, it analyzes how the hybridity and negotiation of ideas between applied drama and social work were created. Finally, it discusses the follow-up effects of the training and the factors that promote or hinder the hybridity and generation of the third space. This paper uses students' reflection papers for analysis. It is not focused on a discussion of the effectiveness of the teaching but attempts to bring new insights into the applications of applied drama to the social work education arena. The hybridity and generation of the third space require handling power strategically and looking after the emotional space of the students. Taking part in the training allows students in the third space of multidisciplinary training to reexamine the traditional framework of social work knowledge to create new ideas and possibilities.

Keywords: multidisciplinary, applied drama, social work education, third space

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1134 Using Econometric Methods to Explore Obesity Stigma and Avoidance of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening

Authors: Stephanie A. Schauder, Gosia Sylwestrzak

Abstract:

Overweight and obese women report avoiding preventive care due to fear of weight-related bias from medical professionals. Gynecological exams, due to their sensitive and personally invasive nature, are especially susceptible to avoidance. This research investigates the association between body mass index (BMI) and screening rates for breast and cervical cancer using claims data from 1.3 million members of a large health insurance company. Because obesity is associated with increased cancer risk, screenings for these cancers should increase as BMI increases. However, this paper finds that the distribution of cancer screening rates by BMI take an inverted U-shape with underweight and obese members having the lowest screening rates. For cervical cancer screening, those in the target population with a BMI of 23 have the highest screening rate at 68%, while Obese Class III members have a screening rate of 50%. Those in the underweight category have a screening rate of 58%. This relationship persists even after controlling for health and demographic covariates in regression analysis. Interestingly, there is no association between BMI and BRCA (BReast CAncer gene) genetic testing. This is consistent with the narrative that stigma causes avoidance because genetic testing does not involve any assessment of a person’s body. More work must be done to determine how to increase cancer screening rates in those who may feel stigmatized due to their weight.

Keywords: cancer screening, cervical cancer, breast cancer, weight stigma, avoidance of care

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1133 The Contribution of the Lomé Charter to Combating Trafficking in Persons at Sea: Nigerian and South African Legal Perspective

Authors: Obinna Emmanuel Nkomadu

Abstract:

A major maritime problem in the African continent is the widespread proliferation of threats to maritime security, and one of which is the traffic in persons (TIP) at sea, which victims are sometimes assaulted, injured, killed, and in many cases go missing. The South African and Nigerian law on TIP at sea is the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act and the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, respectively. These legislation prohibits TIP at sea but does not provides effective and efficient national coordination structures and international cooperation measures against traffickers who engage on human trafficking on the African maritime domain. As a result of the limitations on the maritime security laws of most African States and the maritime security threats on the continent, the African Union in 2016 adopted the African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa (Lome Charter). The Lomé Charter provides mechanisms for national and international cooperation on maritime security threats, including TIP at sea. However, the Charter is yet to come into force due to the number of States required to accede or ratify the Charter. This paper identifies gaps on existing instruments on TIP at sea by those States and justify on South Africa and Nigeria should adopt the Charter. The justification flow from analysing relevant international law instruments, as well as legislation on human trafficking.

Keywords: cooperation against trafficking in persons at sea, lomé charter, maritime security, Nigerian legislation on trafficking in persons, South African legislation on trafficking in person, and trafficking in persons at sea

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1132 Life Course Events, Residential and Job Relocation and Commute Time in Australian Cities

Authors: Solmaz Jahed Shiran, Elizabeth Taylor, John Hearne

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Over the past decade a growing body of research, known as mobility biography approach has emerged that focuses on changes in travel behaviour over the life course of individuals. Mobility biographies suggest that changes in travel behaviour have a certain relation to important key events in life courses such as residential relocation, workplace changes, marriage and the birth of children. Taking this approach as the theoretical background, this study uses data from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics Survey in Australia (HILDA) to model a set of life course events and their interaction with the commute time. By analysing longitudinal data, it is possible to assign different key events during the life course to change a person’s travel behaviour. Changes in the journey-to-work travel time is used as an indication of travel behaviour change in this study. Results of a linear regression model for change in commute time show a significant influence from socio-demographic factors like income and age, the previous home-to-work commute time and remoteness of the residence. Residential relocation and job change have significant influences on commute time. Other life events such as birth of a child, marriage and divorce or separation have also a strong impact on commute time change. Overall, the research confirms previous studies of links between life course events and travel behaviour.

Keywords: life course events, residential mobility, travel behaviour, commute time, job change

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1131 Reversing Community Relationship From the I-It to I-Thou as a Tool for Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Ethiopia

Authors: Sisaye Tamrat Ayalew

Abstract:

The study focuses on the nature of community relationships in Ethiopia, specifically the I-Thou and I-It relationships, and how they contribute to conflict resolution and peacebuilding. It highlights the importance of genuine dialogue and mutual understanding in creating a unified and peaceful society. It analyzes the nature of community relationships in Ethiopia and evaluate how these relationships either contribute to conflict resolution or exacerbate conflicts. It aims to understand the role of genuine dialogue (I-Thou relationship) versus monologue (I-It relationship) in building lasting peace in the country. The study adopts a qualitative approach, specifically hermeneutics, to explore and understand the nature of community relationships in Ethiopia. It involves analyzing the characteristics of both I-Thou and I-It relationships and examining how the political elites shape these relationships within the community. The findings of the study indicate that the predominant type of relationship in Ethiopian society is the I-It relationship, referred to as "com-animation". This relationship is characterized by mutual mistrust, prejudice, hostility, and misunderstanding. As a result, conflicts, mass killings, displacement, and human rights violations have occurred. The study emphasizes the importance of shifting from com-animation to communication (I-Thou relationship) in order to address conflicts and establish lasting peace.

Keywords: dialogue, I-thou relationship, peace building, I-It relationship

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1130 Interrogating Democracy and Development in Africa: A Case Study of Nigeria

Authors: Yusuf Bala

Abstract:

The last decades of the 20th Centaury witnessed renewed hope about the birth of democracy and development in Africa the interface between democracy and development in Africa has long engaged the sustained interest of scholars and researchers across Africa. The process was actively supported by all segment of society, labour students market women, rural dweller who saw in it, the prospects of reversing the trend of political despair and in disillusionment that hither to characterized political life in Africa. The political tyranny and dictatorship while having it own clientele and beneficiaries had negative and suffocating effect on the majority of the people. The democratic aspiration of the Africa people is not only confined to the Arena of political Democracy of election and granting of civil and political rights, but it involves the demand for economic empowerment better living standards of the people and adequate social welfare indeed, for the majority of the people democracy is meaningful only when it delivers socio-economic goods. However, democracy and development have generated enormous interest no conclusive evidence seems to be shared in Africa. In the course of this research emphasis shall be made on certain issues, such as issues of corruption in democracy in Africa, ethnic conflict and democracy in Africa contribution of women to democratic practice and women participation in political arena, is still very low, democratization process and industrial relation in Africa as factor that hinder the development of Democracy in Africa, a case study of Nigeria.

Keywords: democracy, development, dictatorship, conflict, ethnicity

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1129 Correlation Test of Psychomotor Vigilance Test Fatigue Scores on Sleep Quality at Home in Oil and Gas Tanker Driver: A Diagnostic Study

Authors: Pandega Gama Mahardika, Muhammad Rifki Al Iksan, Datuk Fachrul Razy

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Oil And Gas Tanker Driver is a high-risk jobdesc. drivers drive with sleep circadian rhythm disturbances. Therefore, FAMOUS (Fatigue Management Online Ultimate System) conducted a diagnostic test on the effectiveness and accuracy of the Psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) in the field to capture the fatigue level of Oil And Gas Tanker Driver. Fatigue examination with the PVP method for 3 minutes using the Pertamina FAMOUS system (Fatigue Management Online Ultimate System). The research sample was Oil And Gas Tanker Driver Elnusa petrofin drivers as many as 2205 people. PVT is categorical data that states a driver has a low or high fatigue level. The quality of sleep at home was recorded by filling in a score of 1 = not well, 2 = not well, 3 = well, per person. A total of 1852 (84%) driver had a low fatigue level, while 353 (16%) driver had a high fatigue level. Poor sleep quality was experienced by 68 (79%) driver who had a high fatigue level. Oil And Gas Tanker Driver who slept soundly at home as many as 1804 (87%) had a low fatigue level. The correlation coefficient of sleep quality home and fatigue level is significant because it shows a probability value of 0.00 (p <5%). Fatigue level can be diagnosed through examining sleep quality, using FAMOUS Program for occupational medicine, particularly in the oil and gas sector.

Keywords: psychomotor vigilance test, fatigue, sleep, oil and gas tanker driver drivers, pertamina FAMOUS

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1128 Preparation and Struggle of Two Generations for Future Care: A Study of Intergenerational Care Planning among Mainland Immigrant Ageing Families in Hong Kong

Authors: Xue Bai, Ranran He, Chang Liu

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Care planning before the onset of intensive care needs can benefit older adults’ psychological well-being and increases families’ ability to manage caregiving crises and cope with care transitions. Effective care planning requires collaborative ‘team-work’ in families. However, future care planning has not been substantially examined in intergenerational or family contexts, let alone among immigrant families who have to face particular challenges in parental caregiving. From a family systems perspective, this study intends to explore the extent, processes, and contents of intergenerational care planning of Mainland immigrant ageing families in Hong Kong and to examine the intergenerational congruence and discrepancies in the care planning process. Adopting a qualitative research design, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 adult child-older parent pairs and another 33 adult children. In total, 50 adult children who migrated to Hong Kong after the age of 18 with more than three years’ work experience in Hong Kong had at least one parent aged over 55 years old who was not a Hong Kong resident and considered his/herself as the primary caregiver of the parent were recruited. Seventeen ageing parents of the recruited adult children were invited for dyadic interviews. Scarcity of caregiving resources in the context of cross-border migration, intergenerational discrepancies in care planning stages, both generations’ struggle and ambivalence toward filial care, intergenerational transmission of care values, and facilitating role of accumulated family capital in care preparation were primary themes concluded from participants’ narratives. Compared with ageing parents, immigrant adult children generally displayed lower levels of care planning. Although with a strong awareness of parents’ future care needs, few adult children were found engaged in concrete planning activities. This is largely due to their uncertainties toward future life and career, huge work and living pressure, the relatively good health status of their parents, and restrictions of public welfare policies in the receiving society. By contrast, children’s cross-border migration encouraged ageing parents to have early and clear preparation for future care. Ageing parents mostly expressed low filial care expectations when realizing the scarcity of family caregiving resources in the cross-border context. Even though they prefer in-person support from children, most of them prepare themselves for independent ageing to prioritize the next generation’s needs or choose to utilize paid services, welfare systems, friend networks, or extended family networks in their sending society. Adult children were frequently found caught in the dilemma of desiring to provide high quality and in-person support for their parents but lacking sufficient resources. Notably, a salient pattern of intergenerational transmission in terms of family and care values and ideal care arrangement emerged from intergenerational care preparation. Moreover, the positive role of accumulated family capital generated by a reunion in care preparation and joint decision-making were also identified. The findings of the current study will enhance professionals’ and service providers’ awareness of intergenerational care planning in cross-border migration contexts, inform services to alleviate unpreparedness for elderly care and intergenerational discrepancies concerning care arrangements and broaden family services to encompass intergenerational care planning interventions. Acknowledgment: This study is supported by a General Research Grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR, China (Project Number: 15603818).

Keywords: intergenerational care planning, mainland immigrants in Hong Kong, migrant family, older adults

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1127 Theorization of Dalit Feminism: Critical Reflection on Caste

Authors: Sheetal Dinkar Kamble

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The philosophy of Dalit women revolves around the question of how gender and caste inequality manifest itself in social institutions such as the workplace, home, community, rural economy, and the public and private spaces. On the other hand, Dalit feminism explains the range of untouchability related discriminatory practices and how they incorporate the factor of gender in all social relationships. Gender theories are needed to explain how the caste system works on gendered assumptions and are selectively subject to the notion of caste in established ways of life and the punishments for deviating from them. Dalit feminists working in the field of traditional philosophy, from anthropology to epistemology, have introduced new concepts and approaches that would have to form the basis of their philosophy. It also presents philosophical knowledge of caste, gender, religion, class, and sexuality. They are bringing a particularly feminist lens on the issues of globalization, human rights, popular culture, and caste. Dalit women’s philosophy leads to Dalit feminism and knowledge creation. It is an analysis of caste history, contributions, and the challenges faced by Dalit women in rural India. The researcher claims that the method of the case study, to understand caste and gender involved in the discussion of Dalit feminist philosophy, is important. This study will contribute towards the development of dynamic theoretical frameworks directed towards social justice and equality.

Keywords: caste, gender, class, religion

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