Search results for: Community of Inquiry

Authors: Akalework Mengesha

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The adoption of improved agricultural technologies has been connected with higher earnings and lower poverty, enhanced nutritional status, lower staple food prices, and increased employment opportunities for landless laborers. The adoption and extension of the technologies are vastly crucial in that it enables the countries to achieve the millennium development goals (MDG) of reducing extreme poverty and hunger. There are efforts which directed to the enlargement and provision of modern crop varieties in sub-Saharan Africa in the past 30 years. Nevertheless, by and large, the adoption and expansion of rates for improved technologies have insulated behind other regions. This research aims to assess social and economic barriers in the adoption and expansion of agricultural technologies by local communities living around a private agricultural farm in Woliatta Zone, Southern Ethiopia. The study has been carried out among rural households which are located in the three localities selected for the study in the Woliatta zone. Across sectional mixed method, the design was used to address the study objective. The qualitative method was employed (in-depth interview, key informant, and focus group discussion) involving a total of 42 in-depth informants, 17 key-informant interviews, 2 focus group discussions comprising of 10 individuals in each group through purposive sampling techniques. The survey method was mainly used in the study to examine the impact of attitudinal, demographic, and socioeconomic variables on farmers’ adoption of agricultural technologies for quantitative data. The finding of the study revealed that Amibara commercial farm has not made a resolute and well-organized effort to extend agricultural technology to the surrounding local community. A comprehensive agricultural technology transfer scheme hasn’t been put in place by the commercial farm ever since it commenced operating in the study area. Besides, there is an ongoing conflict of interest between the farm and the community, which has kept on widening through time, bounds to be irreversible.

Keywords: adoption, technology transfer, agriculture, barriers

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Authors: Timothy Kephart

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Many law enforcement officials believe that gangs communicate messages to both the community and to rival gangs through graffiti. Some social scientists have documented this as well, however no recent research has examined gang graffiti for its underlying meaning. Empirical research on gang graffiti and gang communication through graffiti is limited. This research can be described as an exploratory effort to better understand how, and perhaps why, gangs employ this medium for communication. Furthermore this research showcases how law enforcement agencies can utilize this hidden form of communication to better direct resources and impact gang violence.

Keywords: gangs, graffiti, juvenile justice, policing

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Authors: Bret Brooks

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As the international community has focused their attention in recent times on international and transnational terrorism, many nations have ignored their own domestic terrorist groups. Domestic terrorism has significantly evolved over the last 15 years and as such nation states must adequately understand their own individual issues as well as the broader worldwide perspective. Contemporary models show that obtaining peace with domestic groups is not only the end goal, but also very obtainable. By evaluating modern examples and incorporating successful strategies, countries around the world have the ability to bring about a diplomatic resolution to domestic extremism and domestic terrorism.

Keywords: domestic, evolution, peace, terrorism

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Authors: Ehsan K. Hazaveh

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This research project explores creative methods of storytelling through photography to portray a vulnerable and marginalised community: former refugees living in Wellington, New Zealand. The project explores photographic representational techniques that can not only empower and give voice to those communities but also challenge dominant stereotypes about refugees and support humanitarian actions. The aims of this study are to develop insights surrounding issues associated with the photographic representation of refugees and to explore the collaborative construction of possible counter-narratives that might lead to the formulation of a practice framework for representing refugees using photography. In other words, the goal of this study is to explore representational and narrative strategies that frame refugees as active community members and as individuals with specific histories and expertise. These counter-narratives will bring the diversity of refugees to the surface by offering personal stories, contextualising their experience, raising awareness about the plight and human rights of the refugee community in New Zealand, evoking empathy and, therefore, facilitating the process of social change. The study has designed a photographic narrative framework by determining effective methods of photo storytelling, framing, and aesthetic techniques, focusing on different ways of taking, selecting, editing and curating photographs. Photo elicitation interviews have been used to ‘explore’, ‘produce’ and ‘co-curate’ the counter-narrative along with participants. Photo elicitation is a qualitative research method that employs images to evoke data in order to find out how other people experience their world - the researcher shows photographs to the participant and asks open-ended questions to get them to talk about their life experiences and the world around them. The qualitative data have been collected and produced through interactions with four former refugees living in Wellington, New Zealand. In this way, this project offers a unique account of their conditions and basic knowledge about their living experience and their stories. The participants of this study have engaged with PhotoVoice, a photo elicitation methodology that employs photography and storytelling, to share activities, emotions, hopes, and aspects of their lived experiences. PhotoVoice was designed to empower members of marginalised populations. It involves a series of meeting sessions, in which participants share photographs they have taken and discuss stories about the photographs to identify, represent, and enhance the issues important to their lives and communities. Finally, the data provide a basis for systematically producing visual counter-narratives that highlight the experiences of former- refugees. By employing these methods, refugees can represent their world as well as interpret it. The process of developing this research framing has enabled the development of powerful counter-narratives that challenge prevailing stereotypical depictions which in turn have the potential to shape improved humanitarian outcomes, shifts in public attitudes and political perspectives in New Zealand.

Keywords: media, photography, refugees, photo-elicitation, storytelling

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Authors: Bashar Dahiru Bashar

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Growing research reveals an unprecedented increase in African applicants for PhD positions across European universities. Meanwhile, a very small percentage is accepted as qualified candidates to marginalize, perpetuate stereotypes, and institute racial discrimination. Candidates of color very often encounter barriers and prejudices that not only diminish their sense of belonging but also hinder their academic progress. Although this issue has existed for quite some time, it attracts little attention, even from the academic community in higher education. Moreover, the focus is mostly on the applicants. In this contribution, concern has been raised that the African applicants for PhD positions in European Universities are the victims rather than the perpetrators. The Universities designed a recruitment process that is in all respects exclusive, biased, and European. The recruitment exercise is a hocus-post in order to cover language and racial and ethnic rejection. Just in the same way legacy admission is practiced in the US. The paper further expressed that the logic is to systematically maintain racial hierarchy and social dominance within the education sector. And because those at an advantage are also the ones that have the media and are predominant in academia, issues like this are not receiving deserved attention. Many people were victims of this recruitment process, while others survived severely wounded as a result of mental, social, and economic trauma. It is not the aim of this paper to provide an armchair solution to this issue but only to showcase the process with the hope of providing something that is needed to improve the present day's literacy and situation. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on diversity, equity, and inclusiveness within European Universities, emphasizing, amongst others, the need for cultivating an atmosphere where individuals are valued for their contributions rather than assessed based on race and ethnicity is essential for creating a vibrant and equitable global academic community, forging a path towards a just and harmonious educational landscape where everyone irrespective of race or ethnicity can thrive and contribute to the collective pursuit of knowledge.

Keywords: admission and recruitment for PhD position, globalization of education, systemic rejection, European university

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Authors: Marie-Claude Richard, Amelie Bolduc-Mokhtar, Mathieu Parent

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People who have experienced maltreatment in childhood subsequently face many parenting issues of their own, in particular when it comes to distancing themselves from the abusive behaviors they were exposed and had access to positive role models. Few studies have explored the factors explaining the ability to break the generational cycle of child maltreatment. However, deeper knowledge of the factors associated with intergenerational discontinuity could facilitate the development of innovative interventions and increase the preventive potential of existing programs. This poster presentation will be about a better understanding of the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment (IGTM) from the perspective of both youth protection workers and parents receiving child protection services. The data used to meet this goal were collected from a group interview with eight youth protection workers whose caseloads involved IGTM situations and through semi-structured interviews with four parents with a history of child protection services and who were currently receiving such services for at least one of their children. In the view of the youth protection workers, the IGTM refers to everything that is transmitted and not transmitted from one generation to the next within a family. The study participants painted quite a bleak portrait of the families affected by IGTM. However, three main avenues of intervention were mentioned by the participants: working within the network, favoring long-term interventions and being empathic. The results also show that the mothers were in a trajectory of intergenerational discontinuity in child maltreatment. Support from their families and friends as well as from formal support services brought out some possible explanatory factors for intergenerational discontinuity in child maltreatment. From a prevention perspective, developing meaningful and trusting relationships seems a source of resilience for parents who were placed in the care of the child protection system as children. The small number of participants limits the generalizability of these results. The difficulty of recruiting parents is a substantial challenge regarding gaining knowledge on the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Future studies should examine this question and seek to develop effective strategies to help recruit study participants.

Keywords: child maltreatment, intergenerational transmission, prevention, qualitative data

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Authors: F. Abdelhamid

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Algeria is a multilingual speech community where individuals constantly mix between codes in spoken discourse. Code is used as a cover term to refer to the existing languages and language varieties which include, among others, the mother tongue of the majority Algerian Arabic, the official language Modern Standard Arabic and the foreign languages French and English. The present study explores whether Algerians mix between these codes in online communication as well. Facebook is the selected platform from which data is collected because it is the preferred social media site for most Algerians and it is the most used one. Adopting the notion of translanguaging, this study attempts explaining how users of Facebook use multilingual messages to communicate meaning. Accordingly, multilingual interactions are not approached from a pejorative perspective but rather as a creative linguistic behavior that multilingual utilize to achieve intended meanings. The study is intended as a contribution to the research on multilingualism online because although an extensive literature has investigated multilingualism in spoken discourse, limited research investigated it in the online one. Its aim is two-fold. First, it aims at ensuring that the selected platform for analysis, namely Facebook, could be a source for multilingual data to enable the qualitative analysis. This is done by measuring frequency rates of multilingual instances. Second, when enough multilingual instances are encountered, it aims at describing and interpreting some selected ones. 120 posts and 16335 comments were collected from two Facebook pages. Analysis revealed that third of the collected data are multilingual messages. Users of Facebook mixed between the four mentioned codes in writing their messages. The most frequent cases are mixing between Algerian Arabic and French and between Algerian Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. A focused qualitative analysis followed where some examples are interpreted and explained. It seems that Algerians mix between codes when communicating online despite the fact that it is a conscious type of communication. This suggests that such behavior is not a random and corrupted way of communicating but rather an intentional and natural one.

Keywords: Algerian speech community, computer mediated communication, languages in contact, multilingualism, translanguaging

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Authors: Kgolagano Mpejane

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The study applies a New Institutional Economics (NIE) analytical framework to trade in developing economies by assessing the impacts of institutional quality and institutional quality distance on agricultural trade using a panel data of 15 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries from the years 1991-2010. The issue of institutions on agricultural trade has not been accorded the necessary attention in the literature, particularly in developing economies. Therefore, the paper empirically tests the gravity model of international trade by measuring the impact of political, economic and legal institutions on intra SADC agricultural trade. The gravity model is noted for its exploratory power and strong theoretical foundation. However, the model has statistical shortcomings in dealing with zero trade values and heteroscedasticity residuals leading to biased results. Therefore, this study employs a two stage Heckman selection model with a Probit equation to estimate the influence of institutions on agricultural trade. The selection stages include the inverse Mills ratio to account for the variable bias of the gravity model. The Heckman model accounts for zero trade values and is robust in the presence of heteroscedasticity. The empirical results of the study support the NIE theory premise that institutions matter in trade. The results demonstrate that institutions determine bilateral agricultural trade on different margins with political institutions having positive and significant influence on bilateral agricultural trade flows within the SADC region. Legal and economic institutions have significant and negative effects on SADC trade. Furthermore, the results of this study confirm that institutional quality distance influences agricultural trade. Legal and political institutional distance have a positive and significant influence on bilateral agricultural trade while the influence of economic, institutional quality is negative and insignificant. The results imply that nontrade barriers, in the form of institutional quality and institutional quality distance, are significant factors limiting intra SADC agricultural trade. Therefore, gains from intra SADC agricultural trade can be attained through the improvement of institutions within the region.

Keywords: agricultural trade, institutions, gravity model, SADC

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Authors: Michelle W. T. Cheng, Yau Y.

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Hong Kong continues to be ranked as the least affordable housing market in the world, making co-living a feasible alternative in this high-density city. Although the number of co-living residences has increased in Hong Kong, co-living as a housing typology is still a new concept for many. Little research has been conducted on this new housing typology, let alone the co-living experience. To address this gap, this study targeted student residents in university residential halls as it is a more controlled environment (e.g., with established rules and guidelines regarding the use of communal facilitates and housing management) for studying co-living experiences in Hong Kong. To date, no research study has systematically identified anti-social behavior (ASB) in co-living spaces. Since ASB can be influenced by factors such as social norms and individual interpretation, it has an elastic definition that results in different levels of acceptance. Unlike other types of housing, co-living spaces can be potentially more influenced by the neighborhood as residents share more time and space. As a pilot study, this research targeted one university residential hall to examine student co-living experiences. To clarify, the research question is focused on identifying the social factors that impact the residential satisfaction of those who co-living in residential halls. Quantitative data (n=100) were collected via a structured questionnaire to measure the residential environment, including ASB, social neighboring, community attachment, and perceived hall management efficacy. The survey was distributed at the end of the academic year to ensure that respondents had at least one year of first-hand experience living in a co-living space. To gather qualitative data, follow-up focus group interviews were conducted with 16 participants who completed the survey. The semi-structured interviews aimed to elicit the participants' perspectives on their co-living experience. Through analyzing their co-living experiences, the researcher identified factors that affected their residential satisfaction and provided recommendations to enhance their co-living experience.

Keywords: co-living, university residential hall, anti-social behabiour, neighbour relationship, community attachement

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Authors: Gabriela Quintana Vigiola

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Social sustainability is an issue scarcely addressed by different authors, being one of its key factors the psychosocial processes of sense of place, sense of community and appropriation. In Caracas’s barrios (Venezuela) these were developed through sharing the construction of the place and different struggles that brought the neighbours together. However, one of the main problems they face is criminal violence, hence being its social sustainability threatened and affected by it. This matter can be addressed by acknowledging communities’ sense of place and engaging in cultural events.

Keywords: Caracas’ barrios, cultural engagement, developing countries, social sustainability

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Authors: Chueh Chang, Chia-jung Hsieh, Fu-yu Yu, Yu-Hwa Lin

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Background:The majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer undergo treatment involving surgery and radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or both. With these major advances in breast cancer management, many patients still have to deal with short or long-term side effects and psychological distress related to the disease and treatment, which have a substantial impact on their quality of life. The Laughing Qigong Program (LQP) is an interactive laughter program that combines the physical and physiological benefits of laughter with the mental benefits of Chinese qigong. Purpose: In order to improve the quality of life for breast cancer women in the community as well as echoing the WHO 2004 “Promoting Mental Health” for every one. This study focused on how to promote the positive mental health for women of breast cancer through the “laughter program” in Taiwan. During the presentation, how to practice Laughing Qigong will be demonstrated. Method: Using nonequivalent pretest-posttest design, ix-one breast cancer patients were volunteered to enroll in this study from the Taiwan Breast Cancer Alliance (TBCA). Thirty patients were assigned to the experimental group and the other 31 patients were assigned to the control group. The women who were assigned to the experimental group received laughter program one hour per session, once a week, totally 12 sessions. All subjects were tested before and after the intervention on the following: Self-Esteem scale (RSE), Face Scale (FS), Anxiety and pain experience were measured as psychological markers; saliva cortisol (CS) as an immunological marker; blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR),and heart rate variability (HRV) as physiological markers of the body’s response to stress. Results: After comparing the experimental and control groups, the results revealed that those breast cancer women with “laughing program” their sense of humor were improved, less uncomfortable on self report physical conditions, more positive attitudes toward stress management by using laughter, and had emotional improvement according to the face scale.

Keywords: mental health promotion, breast cancer, laughing Qigong, women

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Authors: Salma Akter, Md. Kamal Uddin

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This study aims to demonstrate how top-down shelter policy and its resultant dwelling environment leads to ‘everyday compromise’ by the grassroots according to subjective (satisfaction) and objective (physical design elements and physical environmental elements) indicators, which are measured across three levels of the settlement; macro (Community), meso (Neighborhood or shelter/built environment) and micro (family). Ashrayan Prakalpa is a resettlement /housing project of Government of Bangladesh for providing shelters and human resources development activities like education, microcredit, and training programme to landless, homeless and rootless people. Despite the integrated nature of the shelter policies (comprises poverty alleviation, employment opportunity, secured tenure, and livelihood training), the ‘quality of life’ issue at the different levels of settlements becomes questionable. As dwellers of shelter units (although formally termed as ‘barracks’ rather shelter or housing) remain on the receiving end of government’s resettlement policies, they often involve with spatial-physical and socio-economic negotiation and assume curious forms of spatial practice, which often upholds contradiction with policy planning. Thus, policy based shelter force dwellers to persistently compromise with their provided built environments both in overtly and covertly. Compromising with prescribed designed space and facilities across living places articulated their negotiation with the quality of allocated space, built form and infrastructures, which in turn exert as less quality of life. The top-down shelter project, Dakshin Chandani Mahal Ashrayan Prakalpa at Dighalia Upazila, the study area located at the Eastern fringe area of Khulna, Bangladesh, is still in progress to resettle internally displaced and homeless people. In terms of methodology, this research is primarily exploratory and adopts a case study method, and an analytical framework is developed through the deductive approach for evaluating the quality of life. Secondary data have been obtained from housing policy analysis and relevant literature review, while key informant interview, focus group discussion, necessary drawings and photographs and participant observation across dwelling, neighborhood, and community level have also been administered as primary data collection methodology. Findings have revealed that various shortages, inadequacies, and negligence of policymakers force to compromise with allocated designed space, physical infrastructure and economic opportunities across dwelling, neighborhood and mostly community level. Thus, the outcome of this study can be beneficial for a global-level understating of the compromising the ‘quality of life’ under top-down shelter policy. Locally, for instance, in the context of Bangladesh, it can help policymakers and concerned authorities to formulate the shelter policies and take initiatives to improve the well-being of marginalized.

Keywords: Ashrayan Prakalpa, compromise, displaced people, quality of life

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Authors: Paul J. McKay

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Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) investigating genetic contributions to sexual orientation and gender identity are largely lacking and may reduce stigma experienced in the LGBTQ+ community by providing an underlying biological explanation for queerness. While there is a growing consensus within the scientific community that genetic makeup contributes – at least in part – to sexual orientation and gender identity, there is a marked lack of genomics research exploring polygenic contributions to queerness. Based on recent (2019) findings from a large-scale GWAS investigating the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior, and various additional peer-reviewed publications detailing novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of sexual orientation and gender identity, we hypothesize that sexual orientation and gender identity are complex, multifactorial, and polygenic; meaning that many genetic factors contribute to these phenomena, and environmental factors play a possible role through epigenetic modulation. In recent years, large-scale GWAS studies have been paramount to our modern understanding of many other complex human traits, such as in the case of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite possible benefits of such research, including reduced stigma towards queer people, improved outcomes for LGBTQ+ in familial, socio-cultural, and political contexts, and improved access to healthcare (particularly for trans populations); important risks and considerations remain surrounding this type of research. To mitigate possibilities such as invalidation of the queer identities of existing LGBTQ+ individuals, genetic discrimination, or the possibility of euthanasia of embryos with a genetic predisposition to queerness (through reproductive technologies like IVF and/or gene-editing in utero), we propose a community-engaged research (CER) framework which emphasizes the privacy and confidentiality of research participants. Importantly, the historical legacy of scientific research attempting to pathologize queerness (in particular, falsely equating gender variance to mental illness) must be acknowledged to ensure any future research conducted in this realm does not propagate notions of homophobia, transphobia or stigma against queer people. Ultimately, in a world where same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in 69 UN member states, with 67 of these states imposing imprisonment, 8 imposing public flogging, 6 (Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen) invoking the death penalty, and another 5 (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, United Arab Emirates) possibly invoking the death penalty, the importance of this research cannot be understated, as finding a biological basis for queerness would directly oppose the harmful rhetoric that “being LGBTQ+ is a choice.” Anti-trans legislation is similarly widespread: In the United States in 2022 alone (as of Oct. 13), 155 anti-trans bills have been introduced preventing trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams, barring trans youth from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, banning access to gender affirming medical care (e.g., hormone-replacement therapy, gender-affirming surgeries), and imposing legal restrictions on name changes. Understanding that a general lack of knowledge about the biological basis of queerness may be a contributing factor to the societal stigma faced by gender and sexual orientation minorities, we propose the initiation of large-scale GWAS studies investigating the genetic basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Keywords: genome-wide association studies (GWAS), sexual and gender minorities (SGM), polygenicity, community-engaged research (CER)

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Authors: William Thomas Worster

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This paper will highlight the failure of international adjudication to prevent a state from evading an order of provisional measures by simply issuing a diplomatic assurance to the court. This practice changes the positions of the litigants as equals before a court, prevents the court from inquiring into the reliability of the political pledge as it would with assurances from a state to an individual, and diminishes the court’s ability to control its own proceedings in the face of concerns over sovereignty. Both the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) will entertain these kinds of unilateral pledges, but they consider them differently when the declaration is made between states or between a state and an individual, and when made directly to the court. In short, diplomatic assurances issued between states or to individuals are usually considered not to be legally binding and are essentially questions of fact, but unilateral assurances issued directly to an international court are questions of law, and usually legally binding. At the same time, orders for provisional measures are now understood also to be legally binding, yet international courts will sometimes permit a state to substitute an assurance in place of an order for provisional measures. This emerging practice has brought the nature of a state as a sovereign capable of creating legal obligations into the forum of adjudication where the parties should have equality of arms and permitted states to create legal obligations that escape inquiry into the reliability of the outcome. While most recent practice has occurred at the ICJ in state-to-state litigation, there is some practice potentially extending the practice to human rights courts. Especially where the litigants are factually unequal – a state and an individual – this practice is problematic since states could more easily overcome factual failings in their pledges and evade the control of the court. Consider, for example, the potential for evading non-refoulement obligations by extending the current diplomatic assurances practice from the state-to-state context to the state-to-court context. The dual nature of assurances, as both legal and factual instruments, should be considered as addressed to distinct questions, each with its own considerations, and that we need to be more demanding about their precise legal and factual effects.

Keywords: unilateral, diplomacy, assurances, undertakings, provisional measures, interim measures

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Authors: Souhila Belabbas

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This paper focuses on the Kabyles’ multilingual practices in the UK, within the Kabyle/Amazigh Cultural Organisation in London, on online platforms and at home. The Kabyles have roots in northern Algeria and associate their language, Kabyle, with a pre-Arabized history of northern Africa. Drawing on ethnographic research with this community, this study brings together their post-migration language preservation activisms as well as their dynamic multilingual practices and situational language choice into a dialogue. This shows the enduring significance of the heritage language for social, cultural and historical identity. It also demonstrates that the current survival of the “mother tongue” hinges on multilingual and multi-sited language activisms, which bear the hallmarks of both new creativities and diminishing fluencies in multilingual spaces. These multilingual repertoires also included a range of ideological stances, expressed as cultural, moral, and political attitudes to the “mother tongue” and to other, potentially more dominant, languages in their lives, involving both inclusive and exclusive instances. The Kabyles in the UK practice everyday forms of multilingualism in the dynamic terms whilst making strong identity claims to an endangered heritage language. Crucially, their language contact experiences were not a post-migration novelty but part of their pre-migration lifeworlds. The participants involved in this study shared a commitment to Kabyle identity activism. They expressed this differently, varyingly foregrounding cultural, social or political issues. These differences were related to their North-African cultural background, live, gender, religious and/or political affiliation, as well as to their different migratory trajectories. Among these ethno-conscious individuals, the use of Kabyle was often particularly vibrant in informal domains of casual conversations and mixed in with French, English and often Arabic. During community events and festivals, though, many made special efforts to converse in Kabyle as if to make a point about their commitment to a shared identity.

Keywords: ethnography, language ideology, language choice, heritage language, migration trajectories, multilingual repertoires

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Authors: Souhila Belabbas

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the Kabyles’ multilingual practices in the UK, within the Kabyle/Amazigh Cultural Organisation in London, on online platforms and at home. The Kabyles have roots in northern Algeria and associate their language, Kabyle, with a pre-Arabized history of northern Africa. Drawing on ethnographic research with this community, this study brings together their post-migration language preservation activisms as well as their dynamic multilingual practices and situational language choice into a dialogue. This shows the enduring significance of the heritage language for social, cultural and historical identity. It also demonstrates that the current survival of the “mother tongue” hinges on multilingual and multi-sited language activisms, which bear the hallmarks of both new creativities and diminishing fluencies in multilingual spaces. These multilingual repertoires also included a range of ideological stances, expressed as cultural, moral, and political attitudes to the “mother tongue” and to other, potentially more dominant, languages in their lives, involving both inclusive and exclusive instances. The Kabyles in the UK practice everyday forms of multilingualism in the dynamic terms whilst making strong identity claims to an endangered heritage language. Crucially, their language contact experiences were not a post-migration novelty but part of their pre-migration lifeworlds. The participants involved in this study shared a commitment to Kabyle identity activism. They expressed this differently, varyingly foregrounding cultural, social or political issues. These differences were related to their North-African cultural background, live, gender, religious and/or political affiliation, as well as to their different migratory trajectories. Among these ethno-conscious individuals, the use of Kabyle was often particularly vibrant in informal domains of casual conversations and mixed in with French, English and often Arabic. During community events and festivals, though, many made special efforts to converse in Kabyle as if to make a point about their commitment to a shared identity.

Keywords: ethnography, language ideology, language choice, heritage language, migration trajectories, multilingual repertoires

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Authors: Nazal Abdul Nasar RP

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This paper explores the intersection of Sufism and social justice, examining how Sufi principles and practices inform and inspire activism, community engagement, and advocacy for human rights. Drawing on Islamic mystical texts, contemporary Sufi movements, and critical theory, this study argues that Sufism's emphasis on love, compassion, and unity provides a powerful framework for addressing systemic oppression and promoting collective liberation. Sufism, Islamic mysticism has long emphasized the importance of love, compassion, and unity. This paper explores how these principles can inform social justice work, particularly in the context of contemporary activism. Sufi teachings on ma'rifa (spiritual knowledge) emphasize the importance of spiritual awareness and self-reflection in social justice work. Fana (annihilation) informs strategies for addressing privilege and oppression by emphasizing ego annihilation and humility. Tawhid (unity) underlies efforts to build inclusive, equitable communities. Case studies of Sufi-inspired activism in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia demonstrate the potential of Sufi principles to inform social justice work. Examples include Sufi-led protests and grassroots organizing in Egypt and Turkey, Sufi women's empowerment initiatives in Morocco and Tunisia, and Sufi-inspired environmental activism in India and Pakistan. This research demonstrates the potential of Sufi principles to inform and inspire social justice activism. By embodying love, compassion, and unity, activists can address systemic oppression and promote collective liberation. The implications of this research include interfaith dialogue, community building, and activism. Future directions include integrating Sufi principles with critical theory, examining additional Sufi-inspired activism globally, and developing practical guidelines for Sufi-inspired social justice activism.

Keywords: sufism, social justice, islamic mysticism, ego annihilation, love, unity

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Authors: Pavel E. Golosov, Vladimir I. Gorelov, Oksana L. Karelova

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There are visible changes in the world organization, environment and health of national conscience that create a background for discussion on possible redefinition of global, state and regional management goals. Authors apply the sustainable development criteria to a hierarchical management scheme that is to lead the world community to non-contradictory growth. Concrete definitions are discussed in respect of decision-making process representing the state mostly. With the help of system analysis it is highlighted how to understand who would carry the distinctive sign of world leadership in the nearest future.

Keywords: decision-making, information technology, public administration

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Authors: Hee-Young Song

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Background and objectives: In 2011, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) recommendations proposed a multidimensional assessment of patients’ conditions that included both functional parameters and patient-reported outcomes, with the aim to provide a comprehensive assessment of the disease, thus meeting both the needs of the patient and the role of the physician. However, few studies have evaluated patient-reported outcomes as well as objective functional assessments among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in clinical practice in Korea. This study was undertaken to explore the relationship between functional status assessed by the 6-minute walking distance (MWD) test and subjective health status reported by stable patients with COPD residing in community. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 118 stable COPD patients aged 69.4 years old and selected by a convenient sampling from an outpatient department of pulmonology in a tertiaryhospitals. The 6-MWD test was conducted according to standardized instructions. Participants also completed a constructed questionnaire including general characteristics, smoking history, dyspnea by modified medical research council (mMRC) scale, and health status by COPD assessment test (CAT). Anthropometric measurements were performed for body mass index (BMI). Medical records were reviewed to obtain disease-related characteristics including duration of the disease and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Data were analyzed using PASW statistics 20.0. Results: Mean FEV1% of participants was 63.51% and mean 6-MWD and CAT scores were 297.54m and 17.7, respectively. The 6-MWD and CAT showed significant negative correlations (r= -.280, p=.002); FEV1 and CAT did as well correlations (r= -.347, p < .001). Conclusions: Findings suggest that the better functional status an individual with COPD has, the better subjective health status is, and provide the support for using patient-reported outcomes along with functional parameters to facilitate comprehensive assessment of COPD patients in real clinical practices.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD assessment test, functional status, patient-reported outcomes

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Authors: Pauliasi Tony Fakahau

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This paper provides an overview of the impact of the revenue reform programme on vulnerable communities in the Kingdom of Tonga. Economic turmoil and mismanagement during the late 1990s forced the government to seek technical and financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank to undertake a comprehensive Economic and Public Sector Reform (EPSR) programme. The EPSR is a Western model recommended by donor agencies as the solution to Tonga’s economic challenges. The EPSR programme included public sector reform, private sector growth, and revenue generation. Tax reform was the main tool for revenue generation, which set out to strengthen tax compliance and administration as well as implement a value-added consumption tax. The EPSR is based on Western values and ideology but failed to recognise that Tongan cultural values are important to the local community. Two participant groups were interviewed. Participant group one consisted of 51 people representing vulnerable communities. Participant group two consisted of six people from the government and business sector who were from the elite of Tongan society. The Kakala Research Methodology provided the framework for the research, and the Talanoa Research Method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews in the homes of the first group and in the workplaces of the second group. The research found a heavy burden of the consumption tax on the purchasing power of participant group one (vulnerable participants), having an impact on nearly every financial transaction they made. Participant group ones’ main financial priorities were kavenga fakalotu (obligations to the church), kavenga fakafāmili (obligations to the family) and kavenga fakafonua (obligations to cultural events for the village, nobility, and royalty). The findings identified inequalities of the revenue reform, especially from consumption tax, for vulnerable people and communities compared to the elite of society. The research concluded that government and donor agencies need ameliorating policies to reduce the burden of tax on vulnerable groups more susceptible to the impact of revenue reform.

Keywords: tax reform, tonga vulnerable community revenue, revenue reform, public sector reform

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Authors: Roshanim Koris, Norashidah Mohamed Nor, Sharifah Azizah Haron, Normaz Wana Ismail, Syed Mohamed Aljunid Syed Junid, Amrizal Muhammad Nur, Asrul Akmal Shafie, Suraya Yusuff, Namaitijiang Maimaiti

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An ageing population has huge implications for virtually every aspect of Malaysian societies. The elderly consume a greater volume of healthcare facilities not because they are older, but because of they are sick. The chronic comorbidities and deterioration of cognitive ability would lead the elderly’s health to become worst. This study aims to provide a comprehensive estimate of the direct and indirect costs of health care used in a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling elderly with dementia and as well as the determinants of healthcare cost. A survey using multi-stage random sampling techniques recruited a final sample of 2274 elderly people (60 years and above) in the state of Johor, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was used to measure the cognitive capability among the elderly. Only the elderly with a score less than 19 marks were selected for further analysis and were classified as dementia. By using a two-part model findings also indicate household income and education level are variables that strongly significantly influence the healthcare cost among elderly with dementia. A number of visits and admission are also significantly affect healthcare expenditure. The comorbidity that highly influences healthcare cost is cancer and seeking the treatment in private facilities is also significantly affected the healthcare cost among the demented elderly. The level of dementia severity is not significant in determining the cost. This study is expected to attract the government's attention and act as a wake-up call for them to be more concerned about the elderly who are at high risk of having chronic comorbidities and cognitive problems by providing more appropriate health and social care facilities. The comorbidities are one of the factor that could cause dementia among elderly. It is hoped that this study will promote the issues of dementia as a priority in public health and social care in Malaysia.

Keywords: ageing population, dementia, elderly, healthcare cost, healthcare utiliztion

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Authors: Laura N. Bolivar T.

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The tourism importance for regional development is mainly highlighted by the collaborative, cooperating and competitive relationships of the involved agents. The fostering of associativity processes, in particular, the cluster approach emphasizes the beneficial outcomes from the concentration of enterprises, where innovation and entrepreneurship flourish and shape the dynamics for tourism empowerment. Considering the department of Huila, it is located in the south-west of Colombia and holds the biggest coffee production in the country, although it barely contributes to the national GDP. Hence, its economic development strategy is looking for more dynamism and Huila could be consolidated as a leading destination for cultural, ecological and heritage tourism, if at least the public policy making processes for the tourism management of La Tatacoa Desert, San Agustin Park and Bambuco’s National Festival, were implemented in a more efficient manner. In this order of ideas, this study attempts to address the potential restrictions and beneficial factors for the consolidation of the tourism sector of Huila-Colombia as a cluster and how could it impact its regional development. Therefore, a set of theoretical frameworks such as the Tourism Routes Approach, the Tourism Breeding Environment, the Community-based Tourism Method, among others, but also a collection of international experiences describing tourism clustering processes and most outstanding problematics, is analyzed to draw up learning points, structure of proceedings and success-driven factors to be contrasted with the local characteristics in Huila, as the region under study. This characterization involves primary and secondary information collection methods and comprises the South American and Colombian context together with the identification of involved actors and their roles, main interactions among them, major tourism products and their infrastructure, the visitors’ perspective on the situation and a recap of the related needs and benefits regarding the host community. Considering the umbrella concepts, the theoretical and the empirical approaches, and their comparison with the local specificities of the tourism sector in Huila, an array of shortcomings is analytically constructed and a series of guidelines are proposed as a way to overcome them and simultaneously, raise economic development and positively impact Huila’s well-being. This non-exhaustive bundle of guidelines is focused on fostering cooperating linkages in the actors’ network, dealing with Information and Communication Technologies’ innovations, reinforcing the supporting infrastructure, promoting the destinations considering the less known places as well, designing an information system enabling the tourism network to assess the situation based on reliable data, increasing competitiveness, developing participative public policy-making processes and empowering the host community about the touristic richness. According to this, cluster dynamics would drive the tourism sector to meet articulation and joint effort, then involved agents and local particularities would be adequately assisted to cope with the current changing environment of globalization and competition.

Keywords: innovative strategy, local development, network of tourism actors, tourism cluster

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Authors: Chun-Shien Lu

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Privacy-preserving query has recently received considerable attention in the signal processing and multimedia community. It is also a critical step in wireless sensor network for retrieval of sensitive data. The purposes of privacy-preserving query in both the areas of signal processing and sensor network are the same, but the similarity and difference of the adopted technologies are not fully explored. In this paper, we first review the recently developed methods of privacy-preserving query, and then describe in a comprehensive manner what we can learn from the mutual of both areas.

Keywords: encryption, privacy-preserving, search, security

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Authors: C. E. Laburu, M. A. Barros, A. F. Zompero, O. H. M. Silva

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The work presents a teaching strategy that employs syntagmatic and paradigmatic linguistic relations in order to monitor the understanding of physics students’ concepts. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations are theoretical elements of semiotics studies and our research circumstances and justified them within the research program of multi-modal representations. Among the multi-modal representations to learning scientific knowledge, the scope of action of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations belongs to the discursive writing form. The use of such relations has the purpose to seek innovate didactic work with discourse representation in the write form before translate to another different representational form. The research was conducted with a sample of first year high school students. The students were asked to produce syntagmatic and paradigmatic of Newton’ first law statement. This statement was delivered in paper for each student that should individually write the relations. The student’s records were collected for analysis. It was possible observed in one student used here as example that their monemes replaced and rearrangements produced by, respectively, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, kept the original meaning of the law. In paradigmatic production he specified relevant significant units of the linguistic signs, the monemas, which constitute the first articulation and each word substituted kept equivalence to the original meaning of original monema. Also, it was noted a number of diverse and many monemas were chosen, with balanced combination of grammatical (grammatical monema is what changes the meaning of a word, in certain positions of the syntagma, along with a relatively small number of other monemes. It is the smallest linguistic unit that has grammatical meaning) and lexical (lexical monema is what belongs to unlimited inventories; is the monema endowed with lexical meaning) monemas. In syntagmatic production, monemas ordinations were syntactically coherent, being linked with semantic conservation and preserved number. In general, the results showed that the written representation mode based on linguistic relations paradigmatic and syntagmatic qualifies itself to be used in the classroom as a potential identifier and accompanist of meanings acquired from students in the process of scientific inquiry.

Keywords: semiotics, language, high school, physics teaching

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Authors: Hanaa Sameen Ameen Bajilan

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Human rights should be protected and promoted without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, political philosophy, or sexual orientation, following our firm convictions. Thus, any infringement of these rights or disdain for; any use of violence against women undermines the principles and human values of equality and endangers the entire society, including its potential to live in peace and to make growth and development. This paper represents the condition of the new Iraqi women regarding issues such as the gender wage gap, education, health, and violence against women. The study aims to determine the impact of traditions and customs on the legal position of Iraqi women. First, it seeks to assess the effects of culture as a historical agency on the legal status of Iraqi women. Second, the influence of cultural developments in the later part of the twentieth century on Iraqi women's legal standing, and third, the importance of cultural variety as a progressive cultural component in women's legal position. Finally, the study highlights the representation of women in Iraq: Gender wage Gap, Women's liberation between culture and law, and the role of women within Iraqi society based on an Iraqi novel named (Orange Light) in Arabic: برتقالو ضو. in her book, the Iraqi writer Nadia Al-Abru succeeds in portraying the post-war society's devotion to the sexual, emotional and mental marginalization of women in terms of the value of attendance. Since the study of Iraqi women's literature in Arabic-English translation is a new avenue of research that contributes to all three areas, this investigation aims to establish critical lines of engagement between contemporary Iraqi women's literature in English translation and feminist translation conceptual frameworks, and this is accomplished by first focusing on why analyzing Iraqi women writers' novels in Arabic-English translation is a timeline of inquiry that contributes to existing and emerging knowledge fields concerning Iraqi women writers' contemporary critical contexts and scholarship on Arab women's literature in Arabic-English translation.

Keywords: women in İraq, equality, violence, gender wage gap, Nadia Al-Abru, (orange light), women's liberation, İraqi women's literature,

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Authors: Dalila Lino, Maria Joao Hortas, Carla Rocha, Clarisse Nunes, Natalia Vieira, Marina Fuertes, Kátia Sa

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The value of play is recognized worldwide and is considered a fundamental right of all children, as defined in Article 31 of the United Nations Children’s Rights. It is consensual among the scientific community that play, and toys are of vital importance for children’s learning and development. Play promotes the acquisition of language, enhances creativity and improves social, affective, emotional, cognitive and motor development of young children. Young children ages 0 to 6 who have had many opportunities to get involved in play show greater competence to adapt to new and unexpected situations and more easily overcome the pain and suffering caused by traumatic situations. The PlayTrain Project aims to understand the places/spaces of play in the education of children from 0 to 6 years and promoting the training of preschool teachers to become capable of developing practices that enhance children’s agency, experimentation in the physical and social world and the development of imagination and creativity. This project follows the Design-Based-Research (DBR) and has two dimensions: research and intervention. The participants are 120 students from the Master in Pre-school Education of the Higher School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon enrolled in the academic year 2018/2019. The development of workshops focused on the role of play and toys for young children’s learning promotes the participants reflection and the development of skills and knowledge to construct developmentally appropriated practices in early childhood education. Data was collected through an online questionnaire and focal groups. Results show that the PlayTrain Project contribute to the development of a body of knowledge about the role of play for early childhood education. It was possible to identify the needs of preschool teacher education and to enhance the discussion among the scientific and academic community about the importance of deepening the role of play and toys in the study plans of the masters in pre-school education.

Keywords: children's learning, early childhood education, play, teacher education, toys

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Authors: Iftikhar Tayubi, Tabrej Khan, Rayan Alsulmi, Abdulrahman Labban

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Spider produces a special kind of substance. This special kind of substance is called a toxin. The toxin is composed of many types of protein, which differs from species to species. Spider toxin consists of several proteins and non-proteins that include various categories of toxins like myotoxin, neurotoxin, cardiotoxin, dendrotoxin, haemorrhagins, and fibrinolytic enzyme. Protein Sequence information with references of toxins was derived from literature and public databases. From the previous findings, the Spider toxin would be the best choice to treat different types of tumors and cancer. There are many therapeutic regimes, which causes more side effects than treatment hence a different approach must be adopted for the treatment of cancer. The combinations of drugs are being encouraged, and dramatic outcomes are reported. Spider toxin is one of the natural cytotoxic compounds. Hence, it is being used to treat different types of tumors; especially its positive effect on breast cancer is being reported during the last few decades. The efficacy of this database is that it can provide a user-friendly interface for users to retrieve the information about Spiders, toxin and toxin protein of different Spiders species. SPIDTOXD provides a single source information about spider toxins, which will be useful for pharmacologists, neuroscientists, toxicologists, medicinal chemists. The well-ordered and accessible web interface allows users to explore the detail information of Spider and toxin proteins. It includes common name, scientific name, entry id, entry name, protein name and length of the protein sequence. The utility of this database is that it can provide a user-friendly interface for users to retrieve the information about Spider, toxin and toxin protein of different Spider species. The database interfaces will satisfy the demands of the scientific community by providing in-depth knowledge about Spider and its toxin. We have adopted the methodology by using A MySQL and PHP and for designing, we used the Smart Draw. The users can thus navigate from one section to another, depending on the field of interest of the user. This database contains a wealth of information on species, toxins, and clinical data, etc. This database will be useful for the scientific community, basic researchers and those interested in potential pharmaceutical Industry.

Keywords: siptoxd, php, mysql, toxin

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Authors: Folasade Adegbaju, Olusola Arowolo, Olufisayo Onawumi

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Owolowo ile – ege garri processing industry which is a small scale cassava processing industry, located in Ilesha, Osun State was purposively selected as a case study because it is a cooperative business. This industry was established in 1991 by eight men (8) who were mostly retirees. A researcher made questionnaire was used to collect information from thirty (30) respondents: the manager, four official staffs and 25 randomly selected processors in the industry. The study found that within twelve years of the utilization of their self raised initial capital of N240, 000 naira (Two hundred and forty thousand naira) this cassava – based industry had impacted on and attracted the involvement of many more people because within the period of the study (i.e. 2007-2011) the processors had quadrupled in number (e.g. 8 to 30), the facilities (equipment) in use had increased from one machine and a frying pot to many, this translated into being able to produce large quantities of fried garri, fufu and also starch for marketing to the people in Ilesha and neighbouring cities like Ibadan, Lagos, etc. This is indicative of economic growth. The industry also became a source of employment for community members in the sense that, as at the time of study four staffs were employed to work and coordinate the industry. It was observed that despite all odds of small-scale industry and the problem of people migrating from rural to urban area, this agro-based industry still existed successfully in the community, and many of such industry can be replicated by such agricultural cooperative groups nationwide so as to further boost the productivity as well as the economy of the area and nation at large. However, government and individual still have major roles to play in ensuring the growth and development of the nation in this respect.The local agricultural cooperative groups should form regional cooperative consortium with more networking for the farmers, in order to create more jobs for the young ones and to increase agricultural productivity in the country thus resulting in a better and more sustainable economy.

Keywords: agricultural cooperative, cassava processing industry, model, small scale enterprise

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Authors: Janet Ige, Paul Pilkington, Selena Gray, Jane Powell

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Older adults from socially disadvantaged groups and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups experience a higher burden of physical inactivity. Physical inactivity among BME groups is associated with the disproportionately higher level of health inequalities. People from minority ethnic groups encounter more barriers to physical activity. However, this is not often reported. There is very limited review-level evidence on the barriers and facilitators of physical activity among older adults from BME groups in the UK. This study aims to answer the following research question: what are the barriers and facilitators of physical activity participation among adults and older adults from BME background in the UK? To address this, we conducted a review of qualitative studies investigating the barriers and opportunities for physical activity among of BME adults and older adults in the UK. Method: This study is nested in an interpretive paradigm of meta-ethnography. A structured search for published literature was conducted on 6 electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Allied and Complementary Medicine) from January 2007 to July 2017. Hand searching of the reference list of publications was performed in addition to a search conducted on Google Scholar to identify grey literature. Studies were eligible provided they employed any qualitative method and included participants identified as being BME, aged 50 and above, living in any community within the UK. In total, 1036 studies were identified from the structured search for literature, 718 studies were screened by titles after duplicates were removed. On applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a final selection of 10 studies was considered eligible for synthesis. Quality assessment was performed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. Logic maps were used to show the relationship between factors that impact on physical activity participation among adults and older adults Result: Six key themes emerged from the data: awareness of the links between physical activity and health, interaction, and engagement with health professionals, cultural expectations and social responsibilities, appropriate environment, religious fatalism and practical challenges. Findings also showed that the barriers and facilitators of physical activity exist at the individual, community, and socio-economic, cultural and environmental level. There was a substantial gap in research among Black African groups. Findings from the review also informed the design of an ongoing survey investigating the experience and attitude of adults from Somali backgrounds towards physical activity in the UK. Conclusion: Identifying the barriers and facilitators of physical activity among BME groups is a crucial step in addressing the widening inequality gap. Findings from this study highlight the importance of engaging local BME residents in the design of exercise facilities within the community. This will ensure that cultural and social concerns are recognized and properly addressed.

Keywords: BME, UK, meta-ethnographic, adults

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Authors: Natalie Frandsen

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Pursuing post-secondary education is a milestone for many Canadian youths. This transition involves many changes and opportunities for growth. However, this may also be a period where challenges arise. Perhaps not surprisingly, mental health challenges for post-secondary students are common. This poses difficulties for students and instructors. Common mental-health-related symptoms (e.g., low motivation, fatigue, inability to concentrate) can affect academic performance, and instructors may need to provide accommodations for these students without the necessary expertise. ‘Distance education’ has been growing and gaining momentum in Canada for three decades. As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, post-secondary institutions have been required to deliver courses using ‘remote’ methods (i.e., various online delivery modalities). The learning challenges and subsequent academic performance issues experienced by students with mental-health-related disabilities studying online are not well understood. However, we can postulate potential factors drawing from learning theories, the relationship between mental-health-related symptoms and academic performance, and learning design. Identifying barriers and opportunities to academic performance is an essential step in ensuring that students with mental-health-related disabilities are able to achieve their academic goals. Completing post-secondary education provides graduates with more employment opportunities. It is imperative that our post-secondary institutions take a holistic view of learning by providing learning and mental health support while reducing structural barriers. Health-promoting universities and colleges infuse health into their daily operations and academic mandates. Acknowledged in this Charter is the notion that all sectors must take an active role in favour of health, social justice, and equity for all. Drawing from mental health promotion and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) frameworks, relevant adult learning concepts, and critical digital pedagogy, considerations for mental-health-promoting, online learning community development will be summarized. The education sector has the opportunity to create and foster equitable and mental health-promoting learning environments. This is of particular importance during a global pandemic when the mental health of students is being disproportionately impacted.

Keywords: academic performance, community, mental health promotion, online learning

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