Search results for: executive action

Authors: Manolo Dulva Hina, Clement Thierry, Assia Soukane, Amar Ramdane-Cherif

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In this paper, we presented our innovative way of determining the driving context for a driving assistance system. We invoke the fusion of all parameters that describe the context of the environment, the vehicle and the driver to obtain the driving context. We created a training set that stores driving situation patterns and from which the system consults to determine the driving situation. A machine-learning algorithm predicts the driving situation. The driving situation is an input to the fission process that yields the action that must be implemented when the driver needs to be informed or assisted from the given the driving situation. The action may be directed towards the driver, the vehicle or both. This is an ongoing work whose goal is to offer an alternative driving assistance system for safe driving, green driving and comfortable driving. Here, ontologies are used for knowledge representation.

Keywords: cognitive driving, intelligent transportation system, multimodal system, ontology, machine learning

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Authors: B. McGovern, J. F. Luck, A. Gade, I. V. Lake, D. O’Connell, H. C. Cutcliffe, K. P. Shah, E. E. Ginalis, C. M. Lambert, N. Christian, J. R. Kait, A. W. Yu, C. P. Eckersley, C. R. Bass

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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in the form of post-concussive injuries and attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) share similar cognitive impairments, including impaired working memory and executive function. The memory-guided oculomotor task separates working memory and inhibitory components to provide further information on the nature of these deficits in each pathology. Eleven subjects with ADHD, fifteen control subjects, and ten subjects with recent concussive injury were matched on age, gender, and education (all high school-age males). Eye movements were recorded during memory-guided oculomotor tasks with varying delays using EyeLink 1000 (SR Research). The percentage of premature saccades and the latency of correct response are the analyzed measures for response inhibition and working memory, respectively. No significant differences were found in latencies between controls subjects and subjects with ADHD or post-concussive injuries, in accordance with previous studies. Subjects with ADHD and post-concussive injuries both demonstrated a trend of increased percentages of premature saccades compared to control subjects in the same oculomotor task. This trend reached statistical significance between the post-concussive and control groups (p < 0.05). These findings support the primary nature of the executive function deficits in response inhibition in ADHD and mTBI. The interpretation of results is limited by the small sample size and the exploratory nature of the study. Further investigation into oculomotor performance differences in mTBI and ADHD may help in differentiating these pathologies in consequent diagnoses and provide insight into the interaction of these deficits in mTBI.

Keywords: attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), concussion, diagnosis, oculomotor, pediatrics

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Authors: Salamah Ansari

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In absence of a comprehensive international legal regime for sovereign debt restructuring, majority of the complications arising from sovereign debt restructuring are frequently left to the uncertain market forces. The resort to market forces for sovereign debt restructuring has led to a phenomenal increase in litigations targeting assets of defaulting sovereign nations, internationally across jurisdictions with the first major wave of lawsuits against sovereigns in the 1980s with the Latin American crisis. Recent experiences substantiate that majority of obstacles faced during sovereign debt restructuring process are caused by inefficient creditor coordination and collective action problems. Collective action problems manifest as grab race, rush to exits, holdouts, the free rider problem and the rush to the courthouse. On defaulting, for a nation to successfully restructure its debt, all the creditors involved must accept some reduction in the value of their claims. As a single holdout creditor has the potential to undermine the restructuring process, hold-out creditors are snowballing with the increasing probability of earning high returns through litigations. This necessitates a mechanism to avoid holdout litigations and reinforce collective action on the part of the creditor. This can be done either through a statutory reform or through market-based contractual approach. In absence of an international sovereign bankruptcy regime, the impetus is mostly on inclusion of collective action clauses in debt contracts. The preference to contractual mechanisms vis- a vis a statutory approach can be explained with numerous reasons, but that's only part of the puzzle in trying to understand the economics of the underlying system. The contractual approach proposals advocate the inclusion of certain clauses in the debt contract for an orderly debt restructuring. These include clauses such as majority voting clauses, sharing clauses, non- acceleration clauses, initiation clauses, aggregation clauses, temporary stay on litigation clauses, priority financing clauses, and complete revelation of relevant information. However, voluntary market based contractual approach to debt workouts has its own complexities. It is a herculean task to enshrine clauses in debt contracts that are detailed enough to create an orderly debt restructuring mechanism while remaining attractive enough for creditors. Introduction of collective action clauses into debt contracts can reduce the barriers in efficient debt restructuring and also have the potential to improve the terms on which sovereigns are able to borrow. However, it should be borne in mind that such clauses are not a panacea to the huge institutional inadequacy that persists and may lead to worse restructuring outcomes.

Keywords: sovereign debt restructuring, collective action clauses, hold out creditors, litigations

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Authors: Charles St. Geste, Michael Neumann, Catherine Twohig

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Our primary aim is to examine farmer-centered participatory action learning as a tool to improve agricultural production, build resilience to climate shocks and, more broadly, advance community-driven solutions for sustainable development in rural communities across Haiti. For over six years, sixty plus farmers from Deslandes, Haiti, organized in three traditional work groups called konbits, have designed and tested low-input agroecology techniques as part of the Konbit Vanyan Kapab Pwoje Agroekoloji. The project utilizes a participatory action learning approach, emphasizing social inclusion, building on local knowledge, experiential learning, active farmer participation in trial design and evaluation, and cross-community sharing. Mixed methods were used to evaluate changes in knowledge and adoption of agroecology techniques, confidence in advancing agroecology locally, and innovation among Konbit Vanyan Kapab farmers. While skill and knowledge in application of agroecology techniques varied among individual farmers, a majority of farmers successfully adopted techniques outside of the trial farms. The use of agroecology techniques on trial and individual farms has doubled crop production in many cases. Farm income has also increased, and farmers report less damage to crops and property caused by extreme weather events. Furthermore, participatory action strategies have led to greater local self-determination and greater capacity for sustainable community development. With increased self-confidence and the knowledge and skills acquired from participating in the project, farmers prioritized sharing their successful techniques with other farmers and have developed a farmer-to-farmer training program that incorporates participatory action learning. Using adult education methods, farmers, trained as agroecology educators, are currently providing training in sustainable farming practices to farmers from five villages in three departments across Haiti. Konbit Vanyan Kapab farmers have also begun testing production of value-added food products, including a dried soup mix and tea. Key factors for success include: opportunities for farmers to actively participate in all phases of the project, group diversity, resources for application of agroecology techniques, focus on group processes and overcoming local barriers to inclusive decision-making.

Keywords: agroecology, participatory action learning, rural Haiti, sustainable community development

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Authors: Marcia Figueira

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Context: Positivist transformations in agriculture were responsible for top-down – often coercive – mechanisms of uniformed modernization that weathered local diversities and agency. New development pathways need to now shift according to comprehensive integrations of knowledge - scientific, indigenous, and local, and to be sustained on political interventions, bottom-up change, and social learning if climate goals are to be met – both in mitigation and adaptation. Objectives The objectives of this research are to understand how social-ecological and socio-technical systems characterisation can be nested to bridge scientific research/knowledge into a local context and knowledge system; and, with it, stem sustainable innovation. Methods To do so, we conducted a scoping review to explore theoretical and empirical works linked to Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems framework and Geels’ multi-level perspective of socio-technical systems transformations in the context of agriculture. Results As a result, we were able to identify key variables and connections to 1- understand the rules in use and the community attributes influencing resource management; and 2- how they are and have been shaped and shaping systems innovations. Conclusion Based on these results, we discuss how to leverage action research for mutual learning toward a replicable but highly place-based agriculture transformation frame.

Keywords: agriculture systems innovations, social-ecological systems, socio-technical systems, action research

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Authors: Joelle Hawa, Michael Gilding

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The role of interest as a driver of action has been an on-going debate in the sociological sciences. This paper shows evidence as to how economic actors frame their environment in terms of interests and goals to take action. It introduces the concept of 'dynamic actor compass', a cognitive tool that is socially contingent and allows economic actors to navigate their environment, evaluate the level of alignment of interests and goals with other players, and decide whether or not they are willing to rely on, collaborate or partner with others in the field. The paper builds on Kaplan’s model of framing contests and integrates Max Weber’s interests, and ideas construct as well as Beckert’s concept of fictional expectations. The author illustrates this conceptual framework in the case of MedTech entrepreneurs’ capital raising activities in Australia. The study adopts a grounded theory methodology, running in-depth interviews with 24 MedTech entrepreneurs in order to examine their decision-making processes and actions to finance their innovation trajectory. The findings show that participants take into account material and ideal interests and goals that they impose adapt or negotiate with other actors in their environment. These interactions affect the way MedTech entrepreneurs perceive other funders in the field, influencing their capital raising strategies.

Keywords: expectations, financing innovation, frames, goals, interest-oriented action, managerial cognition

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Authors: Nikitha Francis, Anjana Hoode, Vinitha George, Jayashree S. Bhat

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The interaction between cognition and language, referred as cognitive-communication, is very intricate, involving several mental processes such as perception, memory, attention, lexical retrieval, decision making, motor planning, self-monitoring and knowledge. Cognitive-communication disorders are difficulties in communicative competencies that result from underlying cognitive impairments of attention, memory, organization, information processing, problem solving, and executive functions. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an acquired, non - progressive condition, resulting in distinct deficits of cognitive communication abilities such as naming, word-finding, self-monitoring, auditory recognition, attention, perception and memory. Cognitive-communication intervention in TBI is individualized, in order to enhance the person’s ability to process and interpret information for better functioning in their family and community life. The present case report illustrates the cognitive-communicative behaviors and the intervention outcomes of an adult with TBI, who was brought to the Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, with cognitive and communicative disturbances, consequent to road traffic accident. On a detailed assessment, she showed naming deficits along with perseverations and had severe difficulty in recalling the details of the accident, her house address, places she had visited earlier, names of people known to her, as well as the activities she did each day, leading to severe breakdowns in her communicative abilities. She had difficulty in initiating, maintaining and following a conversation. She also lacked orientation to time and place. On administration of the Manipal Manual of Cognitive Linguistic Abilities (MMCLA), she exhibited poor performance on tasks related to visual and auditory perception, short term memory, working memory and executive functions. She attended 20 sessions of cognitive-communication intervention which followed a domain-general, adaptive training paradigm, with tasks relevant to everyday cognitive-communication skills. Compensatory strategies such as maintaining a dairy with reminders of her daily routine, names of people, date, time and place was also recommended. MMCLA was re-administered and her performance in the tasks showed significant improvements. Occurrence of perseverations and word retrieval difficulties reduced. She developed interests to initiate her day-to-day activities at home independently, as well as involve herself in conversations with her family members. Though she lacked awareness about her deficits, she actively involved herself in all the therapy activities. Rehabilitation of moderate to severe head injury patients can be done effectively through a holistic cognitive retraining with a focus on different cognitive-linguistic domains. Selection of goals and activities should have relevance to the functional needs of each individual with TBI, as highlighted in the present case report.

Keywords: cognitive-communication, executive functions, memory, traumatic brain injury

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Authors: Usha Khatiwada

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Nepal’s overall energy baseline: It has been proposed that hydropower projects for domestic consumption can earn CDM revenue in Nepal if a new methodology is established that takes into account not only consumption in Nepal of grid electricity but also other fuels such as kerosene, diesel, and firewood, used by a vast majority of the population for their lighting and other needs. However, this would mean that we would be trying to combine grid electricity supply and consumers not supplied from the grid into one methodology. Such a sweeping baseline may have a very small chance of success with the CDM Executive Board.

Keywords: environment, clean development mechanism, hydropower, Nepal

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Authors: Gezahegn Gizaw

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The FDRE Tourism Training Institute organizes forums for debates, best practices exchange and focus group discussions to forge a sustainable and growing tourism sector while minimizing negative impacts on the environment, communities, and cultures. This study aimed at applying empirical research method to identify and quantify relative importance of success factors and individual engagement indicators that were identified in these forums. Response to the 12-question survey was collected from a total of 437 respondents in academic training institutes (212), business executive and employee (204) and non-academic government offices (21). Overall, capacity building was perceived as the most important driver of success for stakeholder engagement. Business executive and employee category rated capacity building as the most important driver of success (53%), followed by decision-making process (27%) and community participation (20%). Among educators and students, both capacity building and decision-making process were perceived as the most important factors (40% of respondents), whereas community participation was perceived as the most important success factor only by 20% of respondents. Individual engagement score in capacity building, decision-making process and community participation showed highest variability by educational level of participants (variance of 3.4% - 5.2%, p<0.001). Individual engagement score in capacity building was highly correlated to perceived benefit of training on improved efficiency, job security, higher customer satisfaction and self-esteem. On the other hand, individual engagement score in decision making process was highly correlated to its perceived benefit on lowering business costs, improving ability to meet the needs of a target market, job security, self-esteem and more teamwork. The study provides a set of recommendations that help educators, business executives and policy makers to maximize the individual and synergetic effect of training, decision making process on sustainability and growth of the tourism sector in Ethiopia.

Keywords: engagement score, driver of success, capacity building, tourism

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Authors: Soni T. L.

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Sustainable environmental stress is a major concern which needs immediate attention. This paper is an attempt to present participatory action research for sustainable agriculture. Being first and best culture, agriculture protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of people, and safeguards the health and welfare of all groups. During course of time agriculture turned to agribusiness, then the values are not safeguarded. Moreover, in today’s busy life many are not taking efforts to take part in agriculture production. Then children are not getting the opportunity to understand agriculture and farming practices. So student initiatives are vital to make them aware. Here the programmes structured by the researcher come under the auspicious of National Service Scheme, a student-centered educational programme, organized by Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government of India. The twin objectives of the study are to examine the role of student initiatives for sustainable agriculture and the role of participatory action research in student initiatives. SWOT analysis is made to study strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. The Methodology adopted is Participatory Action Research. The method is participatory in a sense there is collaboration through participation. The method is action, there is lab land experiences which is real. The method is research that there is documented lessons and creation of new knowledge. Plan of action cover measures adopted and strategies taken i.e., bhavana – kalpana – yojana – sadhana. Through the team effort, the team was successful in converting more than 10 hectares of barren land into cultivable land within and outside the campus. Team efforts of students saved a huge amount of labour cost and produced a huge quantity of organic output and the team was also successful in creating 1000 rain pits in the premises of College for rainwater harvesting. The findings include conveyance of the Message: Food Production is superior to Food donation. Moreover, the study fostered good work ethic and social responsibility among students. Students undertake innovative programmes underlying social and environmental issues and participants got increased opportunities to interact with local and less privileged and acquired increased awareness about real-life experiences which make them confident to interact with people and it resulted in the strengthening of social capital- cooperation, team spirit, social commitment among students. Participants promoted sustainable domestic efforts and ultimately environmental protection is ensured. Finally, there is recognition to the team, institution and the researcher at the university level, state level and at the national level. The learned lessons are, if the approach is good, the response is good and success generates success. Participatory action research is empowering experience for practitioners, focusing the combined time, energy and creativity of a committed group we should lead so many programmes which makes the institution centre of excellence. Authorities should take necessary steps for the Inclusion of community development activities in the curriculum. Action research is problem, client and action centered. So, we must adapt and adopt, coordinates and correlates measures which preserve and conserve the environment.

Keywords: participatory action research, student initiatives, sustainable development, sustainability

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Authors: Imran Ali

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General chemotherapy for cancer treatment has many side and toxic effects. A new approach of targeting nano anti-cancer drug is under development stage and only few drugs are available in the market today. The unique features of these drugs are targeted action on cancer cells only without any side effect. Sometimes, these are called magic drugs. The important molecules used for nano anti-cancer drugs are cisplatin, carboplatin, bleomycin, 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, dactinomycin, 6-mercaptopurine, paclitaxel, topotecan, vinblastin and etoposide etc. The most commonly used materials for preparing nano particles carriers are dendrimers, polymeric, liposomal, micelles inorganic, organic etc. The proposed lecture will comprise the-of-art of nano drugs in cancer chemo-therapy including preparation, types of drugs, mechanism, future perspectives etc.

Keywords: cancer, nano-anti-cancer drugs, chemo-therapy, mechanism of action, future perspectives

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Authors: Wendy Maddison

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This paper describes an Action Research project which was undertaken to inform professional practice in order to develop a newly created Centre for Student Success in the specific context of transnational medical and nursing education in the Middle East. The objectives were to enhance the academic performance, persistence, integration and personal and professional development of a multinational study body, in particular in relation to preclinical medical students, and to establish a comfortable, friendly and student-driven environment within an Irish medical university recently established in Bahrain. Expatriating a new part of itself into a corner of the world and within a context which could be perceived as the antithesis of itself, in particular in terms of traditional cultural and organisational values, the university has had to innovate in the range of services, programmes and other offerings which engages and supports the academic success of medical and nursing students as they “encounter the world in the classroom” in the context of an Arab Islamic culture but within a European institution of transnational education, engaging with a global learning environment locally. The outcomes of the project resulted in the development of a specific student success ‘signature’ for this particular transnational higher education context.

Keywords: transnational higher education, medical education, action research, student success, Middle Eastern context, student persistence in the global-local, student support mechanisms

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Authors: Seokbeen Lim, Gilwon Yoon

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The readiness potential in brain waves is a brain activity related with an intention whose potential arises even before its conscious intention. This study was carried out in order to understand the generation and mechanism of the readiness potential more. The experiment with two subjects was conducted in two ways following the Oddball task protocol. Firstly, auditory stimuli were randomly presented to the subjects. The subject was allowed to press the keyboard with the right index finger only when the subject heard the target stimulus but not the standard stimulus. Secondly, unlike the first one, the auditory stimuli were randomly presented, and the subjects pressed the keyboard in the same manner, but at the same time with grasping action of the left hand. The readiness potential showed up for both of these experiments. In the first Oddball experiment, the readiness potential was detected only when the target stimulus was presented. However, in the second Oddball experiment with the left hand action of grasping something, the readiness potential was detected at the presentation of for both standard and target stimuli. However, detected readiness potentials with the target stimuli were larger than those of the standard stimuli. We found an interesting phenomenon that the readiness potential was able to be detected even the standard stimulus. This indicates that motor-related readiness potentials can be generated only by the intention to move. These results present a new perspective in psychology and brain engineering since subconscious brain action may be prior to conscious recognition of the intention.

Keywords: readiness potential, auditory stimuli, event-related potential, electroencephalography, oddball task

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Authors: Thomas Wetere

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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (COVID-19) virus infection is a severe infectious disease with the highly transmissible variant, which become the global public health treat now. It has taken the life of more than 4 million people so far. What makes the disease the worst of all is no specific effective treatment available, its dynamics is not much researched and understood. Methodology: To end the global COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of multiple population-wide strategies, including vaccination, environmental factors, Government action, testing, and contact tracing, is required. In this article, a new mathematical model incorporating both temperature and government action to study the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic has been developed and comprehensively analysed. The model considers eight stages of infection: susceptible (S), infected Asymptomatic and Undetected(IAU ), infected Asymptomatic and detected(IAD), infected symptomatic and Undetected(ISU ), infected Symptomatic and detected(ISD), Hospitalized or threatened(H), Recovered(R) and Died(D). Results: The existence as well as non-negativity of the solution to the model is also verified, and the basic reproduction number is calculated. Besides, stability conditions are also checked, and finally, simulation results are compared with real data. The results demonstrates that effective government action will need to be combined with vaccination to end the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Vaccination and Government action are highly the crucial measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, as the cost of vaccination might be high, we recommend an optimal control to reduce the cost and number of infected individuals. Moreover, in order to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, through the analysis of the model, the government must strictly manage the policy on COVID-19 and carry it out. This, in turn, helps for health campaigning and raising health literacy which plays a role to control the quick spread of the disease. We finally strongly believe that our study will play its own role in the current effort of controlling the pandemic.

Keywords: modeling, COVID-19, MCMC, stability

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Authors: Nassima Noufail, Sara Bouhali

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In this work, we develop a semi-supervised solution for the purpose of action detection in videos and propose an efficient algorithm for video segmentation. The approach is divided into video segmentation, feature extraction, and classification. In the first part, a video is segmented into clips, and we used the K-means algorithm for this segmentation; our goal is to find groups based on similarity in the video. The application of k-means clustering into all the frames is time-consuming; therefore, we started by the identification of transition frames where the scene in the video changes significantly, and then we applied K-means clustering into these transition frames. We used two image filters, the gaussian filter and the Laplacian of Gaussian. Each filter extracts a set of features from the frames. The Gaussian filter blurs the image and omits the higher frequencies, and the Laplacian of gaussian detects regions of rapid intensity changes; we then used this vector of filter responses as an input to our k-means algorithm. The output is a set of cluster centers. Each video frame pixel is then mapped to the nearest cluster center and painted with a corresponding color to form a visual map. The resulting visual map had similar pixels grouped. We then computed a cluster score indicating how clusters are near each other and plotted a signal representing frame number vs. clustering score. Our hypothesis was that the evolution of the signal would not change if semantically related events were happening in the scene. We marked the breakpoints at which the root mean square level of the signal changes significantly, and each breakpoint is an indication of the beginning of a new video segment. In the second part, for each segment from part 1, we randomly selected a 16-frame clip, then we extracted spatiotemporal features using convolutional 3D network C3D for every 16 frames using a pre-trained model. The C3D final output is a 512-feature vector dimension; hence we used principal component analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction. The final part is the classification. The C3D feature vectors are used as input to a multi-class linear support vector machine (SVM) for the training model, and we used a multi-classifier to detect the action. We evaluated our experiment on the UCF101 dataset, which consists of 101 human action categories, and we achieved an accuracy that outperforms the state of art by 1.2%.

Keywords: video segmentation, action detection, classification, Kmeans, C3D

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Authors: Scott Andersen

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Perhaps simply and rather unadornedly, consciousness is having multiple goals for action and the continuously adjudication of such goals to implement action, referred to as the Maps of Meaning (MoM) Consciousness Theory. The MoM theory triangulates through three parallel corollaries, action (behavior), mechanism (morphology/pathophysiology), and goals (teleology). (1) An organism’s consciousness contains a fluid, nested goals. These goals are not intentionality, but intersectionality, embodiment meeting the world. i.e., Darwinian inclusive fitness or randomization, then survival of the fittest. These goals form via gradual descent under inclusive fitness, the goals being the abstraction of a ‘match’ between the evolutionary environment and organism. Human consciousness implements the brain efficiency hypothesis, genetics, epigenetics, and experience crystallize efficiencies, not necessitating best or objective but fitness, i.e., perceived efficiency based on one’s adaptive environment. These efficiencies are objectively arbitrary, but determine the operation and level of one’s consciousness, termed extreme thrownness. Since inclusive fitness drives efficiencies in physiologic mechanism, morphology and behavior (action) and originates one’s goals, embodiment is necessarily entangled to human consciousness as its the intersection of mechanism or action (both necessitating embodiment) occurring in the world that determines fitness. Perception is the operant process of consciousness and is the consciousness’ de facto goal adjudication process. Goal operationalization is fundamentally efficiency-based via one’s unique neuronal mapping as a byproduct of genetics, epigenetics, and experience. Perception involves information intake and information discrimination, equally underpinned by efficiencies of inclusive fitness via extreme thrownness. Perception isn’t a ‘frame rate,’ but Bayesian priors of efficiency based on one’s extreme thrownness. Consciousness and human consciousness is a modular (i.e., a scalar level of richness, which builds up like building blocks) and dimensionalized (i.e., cognitive abilities become possibilities as emergent phenomena at various modularities, like stratified factors in factor analysis). The meta dimensions of human consciousness seemingly include intelligence quotient, personality (five-factor model), richness of perception intake, and richness of perception discrimination, among other potentialities. Future consciousness research should utilize factor analysis to parse modularities and dimensions of human consciousness and animal models.

Keywords: consciousness, perception, prospection, embodiment

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Authors: Onyinyechi Lilian Uche

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Limiting arbitrariness and political power in governance is expressed in the concept of constitutionalism. Constitutionalism acknowledges the necessity for government but insists upon a limitation being placed upon its powers. It is therefore clear that the essence of constitutionalism is obviation of arbitrariness in governance and maximisation of liberty with adequate and expedient restraint on government. The doctrine of separation of powers accompanied by a system of checks and balances in Nigeria like many other African countries is marked by elements of ‘personal government’ and this has raised questions about whether the apparent separation of powers provided for in the Nigerian Constitution is not just a euphemism for the hegemony of the executive over the other two arms of government; the legislature and the judiciary. Another question raised in the article is whether the doctrine is merely an abstract philosophical inheritance that lacks both content and relevance to the realities of the country and region today? The current happenings in Nigeria and most African countries such as the flagrant disregard of court orders by the Executive, indicate clearly that the concept constitutionalism ordinarily goes beyond mere form and strikes at the substance of a constitution. It, therefore, involves a consideration of whether there are provisions in the constitution which limit arbitrariness in the exercise of political powers by providing checks and balances upon such exercise. These questions underscore the need for Africa to craft its own understanding of the separation of powers between the arms of government in furtherance of good governance as it has been seen that it is possible to have a constitution in place which may just be a mere statement of unenforceable ‘rights’ or may be bereft of provisions guaranteeing liberty or adequate and necessary restraint on exercise of government. This paper seeks to expatiate on the importance of the nexus between constitutionalism and democratic process and a juxtaposition of practices between Nigeria and South Africa. The article notes that an abstract analysis of constitutionalism without recourse to the democratic process is meaningless and also analyses the structure of government of some selected African countries. These are examined the extent to which the doctrine operates within the arms of government and concludes that it should not just be regarded as a general constitutional principle but made rigid or perhaps effective and binding through law and institutional reforms.

Keywords: checks and balances, constitutionalism, democratic process, separation of power

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Authors: Brandtner Patrick, Staberhofer Franz

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Logistics and Supply Chain Management are of crucial importance for organisational success. In the era of Digitalization, several implications and improvement potentials for these domains arise, which at the same time could lead to decreased competitiveness and could endanger long-term company success if ignored or neglected. However, empirical research on the issue of Digitalization and benefits purported to it by practitioners is scarce and mainly focused on single technologies or separate, isolated Supply Chain blocks as e.g. distribution logistics or procurement only. The current paper applies a holistic focus group approach to elaborate practitioner use cases at the nexus of the concepts of Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Digitalization. In the course of three focus group workshops with over 45 participants from more than 20 organisations, a comprehensive set of benefit entitlements and areas for improvement in terms of applying digitalization to SCM is developed. The main results of the paper indicate the relevance of Digitalization being realized in practice. In the form of seventeen concrete research action fields, the benefit entitlements are aggregated and transformed into potential starting points for future research projects in this area. The main contribution of this paper is an empirically grounded basis for future research projects and an overview of actual research action fields from practitioners’ point of view.

Keywords: digital supply chain, digital transformation, supply chain management, value networks

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Authors: Keroles Akram Saed Ghatas

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The near future will bring significant changes in modern organizations and management due to the growing role of intangible assets and knowledge workers. The area of copyright, intellectual property, digital (intangible) assets and media redistribution appears to be one of the greatest challenges facing business and society in general and management sciences and organizations in particular. The proposed article examines the views and perceptions of fairness in digital media sharing among Harvard Law School's LL.M.s. Students, based on 50 qualitative interviews and 100 surveys. The researcher took an ethnographic approach to her research and entered the Harvard LL.M. in 2016. at, a Face book group that allows people to connect naturally and attend in-person and private events more easily. After listening to numerous students, the researcher conducted a quantitative survey among 100 respondents to assess respondents' perceptions of fairness in digital file sharing in various contexts (based on media price, its availability, regional licenses, copyright holder status, etc.). to understand better . .). Based on the survey results, the researcher conducted long-term, open-ended and loosely structured ethnographic interviews (50 interviews) to further deepen the understanding of the results. The most important finding of the study is that Harvard lawyers generally support digital piracy in certain contexts, despite having the best possible legal and professional knowledge. Interestingly, they are also more accepting of working for the government than the private sector. The results of this study provide a better understanding of how “fairness” is perceived by the younger generation of lawyers and pave the way for a more rational application of licensing laws.

Keywords: cognitive impairments, communication disorders, death penalty, executive function communication disorders, cognitive disorders, capital murder, executive function death penalty, egyptian law absence, justice, political cases piracy, digital sharing, perception of fairness, legal profession

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Authors: Julio Cesar Torres Rocha

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The present study is a three-stage action research that aims at raising EFL teachers’ awareness of World Englishes (WE) within a critical perspective of inquiry. Through a taught module on English and its varieties, a survey, a reflection paper, and a semi-structured interview were used to collect the data. The results of the study showed that there was a clear change of conception, at the theoretical level, in teachers’ papers. However, WE was regarded as future possibility for action. On the one hand, all of the participants said the module changed their conception of other varieties of English different from British and American ones. They all went from identifying themselves with either American or British variety, a celebratory perspective, to acknowledging and accepting other English varieties, a critical perspective of English as an international language (EIL).

Keywords: teachers’ s awareness, English as an international language, introducing world Englishes, critical applied linguistics

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Authors: Lee Kar Heng

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Activists are people who use strong actions such as public protests or social media accusations in support of or opposition to controversial issues. While activism is the act of using such vigorous campaigns and actions to achieve political or social changes by the activists, today, the pressure and stresses from activism do not only grow in terms of civil rights but also in racial justice, labour reforms, and environmental change, to name a few. Some activism acts are constructive, but many are destructive, and they affect businesses as activists direct their sights on corporations, business entities, and organizations to achieve their supporting objectives beyond reasonable means. The paper attempts to share experiences of businesses being attacked by activists and how the attacks are mitigated. In sharing, this paper will discuss the effectiveness of the activist action and ways to react to them. The positive and negative impacts caused by activists' support action against corporations are also discussed.

Keywords: activism, conflicts, business, social responsibility

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Authors: Anna Rhodora A. Solar, Jan Emil N. Langomez

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Social Media plays a crucial role in influencing Philippine public opinion with regard to a variety of socio-political issues. This became evident in the massacre of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF 44) tasked by the Philippine government to capture one of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted terrorists. The incident was said to be perpetrated by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. Part of the online discourse within Philippine cyberspace sparked intense debates on Filipino Muslim identity, with several Facebook viral posts linking Islam as a factor to the tragic event. Facebook is considered to be the most popular social media platform in the Philippines. As such, this begs the question of the extent to which social media, specifically Facebook, shape the perceptions of Filipinos on Filipino Muslims. This study utilizes Habermas’ theory of communicative action as it offers an explanation on how public sphere such as social media could be a network for communicating information and points of view through free and open dialogue among equal citizens to come to an understanding or common perception. However, the paper argues that communicative action which is aimed at reaching understanding free from force, and strategic action which is aimed at convincing someone through argumentation may not necessarily be mutually exclusive since reaching an understanding can also be considered as a result of convincing someone through argumentation. Moreover, actors may clash one another in their ideas before reaching common understanding, hence the presence of force. Utilizing content analysis on the Facebook posts with Islamic component that went viral after the massacre of the SAF 44, this paper argues that framing the image of Filipino Muslims through Facebook reflects both communicative and strategic actions. Moreover, comment threads on viral posts manifest force albeit implicit.

Keywords: communication, Muslim, Philippines, social media

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Authors: Kunkanit Sutamchai, Kate E. Rowlands

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Recent public ethical scandals in many organizations around the world have raised concern about organizational ethics, which have, in turn, made ethical behaviors and conducts on the part of leaders become more critical topics in organizational studies. However, current research on the benefits of mindfulness within the workplace contexts has predominantly focused on stress reduction and work performance enhancement, while the aspects of ethical behavior development have been far less investigated in mindfulness research in the organizational and management fields. Only recently has there been an emerging call for organizational researchers and practitioners to study mindfulness concepts and practices from the original Buddhist perspectives given that ethics is regarded as a foundation for Buddhist mindfulness. Yet little, if any, empirical research on the contributions of mindfulness practices to ethical leadership has been done in Eastern Buddhist contexts. Therefore, this study aims to explore the extent to which and how Buddhist-based mindfulness practices can influence organizational leaders’ ethical values and practices. On this basis, Thailand was selected as a context of study due to a predominantly Buddhist society and culture. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty executive leaders from various private organizations in Thailand, who practice Buddhist-based mindfulness meditation regularly. The findings from this study shed light on the role Buddhist-based mindfulness practices can play in promoting ethical behavior among executive leaders in Thailand. The results also suggest that ethical values and practices influenced by Buddhist-based mindfulness practices are well aligned with the elements appeared in the inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural ethical leadership framework, namely: humane, justice, sustainability and responsibility, and moderation. This study concludes that the integration of ethical dimensions to mindfulness practices may provide promising opportunities for ethical leadership development, particularly in the context of Thailand. This could contribute significantly to the future development of both organizations and society at large. The study also suggests that mindfulness interventions in organizational contexts should place more explicit emphasis on ethics. This may be done by relating the ethical principles underlying Buddhist-based mindfulness to other ethical systems in different contexts and cultures where they can be aligned.

Keywords: Buddhism, ethical leadership, leadership development, mindfulness, Thailand, training

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Authors: S. A. Sadegh Zadeh, C. Kambhampati

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Mathematical and computational modellings are the necessary tools for reviewing, analysing, and predicting processes and events in the wide spectrum range of scientific fields. Therefore, in a field as rapidly developing as neuroscience, the combination of these two modellings can have a significant role in helping to guide the direction the field takes. The paper combined mathematical and computational modelling to prove a weakness in a very precious model in neuroscience. This paper is intended to analyse all-or-none principle in Hodgkin-Huxley mathematical model. By implementation the computational model of Hodgkin-Huxley model and applying the concept of all-or-none principle, an investigation on this mathematical model has been performed. The results clearly showed that the mathematical model of Hodgkin-Huxley does not observe this fundamental law in neurophysiology to generating action potentials. This study shows that further mathematical studies on the Hodgkin-Huxley model are needed in order to create a model without this weakness.

Keywords: all-or-none, computational modelling, mathematical model, transmembrane voltage, action potential

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Authors: Neuma Chaveiro, Juliana Guimarães Faria

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Introduction: The thematic that guides this study is teacher training for the teaching of sign language in a perspective of bilingual education – specifically aimed at Brazilian public schools that offer inclusive education, and that have, among its students, deaf children who use Brazilian Sign Language as a means of communication and expression. In the Teacher Training Course for Letters/Libras at the Universidade Federal de Goiás/UFG, we developed a bilingual education project for the deaf, linked to PIBID (Institutional Scholarship for Teaching Initiation Program), funded by the Brazilian Federal Government through CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel). Goals: to provide the education of higher education teachers to work in public schools in basic education and to insert students from the UFG’s Letters/Libras course in the school’s daily life, giving them the opportunity for the creation and participation in methodological experiences and of teaching practices in order to overcome the problems identified in the teaching-learning process of deaf students, in a bilingual perspective, associating Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) and Portuguese. Methodology: qualitative approach and research-action, prioritizing action – reflection – action of the people involved. The Letters-Libras PIBID of the College of Letters/UFG, in this qualitative context, is guided by the assumptions of investigation-action to contribute to the education of the Libras teacher. Results: production of studies and researches in the area of education, professionalization and teaching practice for the degree holder in Letters: Libras; b) studies, research and training in bilingual education; c) clarification and discussion of the myths that permeate the reality of users of sign languages; d) involving students in the development of didactic materials for bilingual education. Conclusion: the PIBID Project Letters/Libras allows, both to the basic education school and to the teachers in training for the teaching of Libras, an integrated and collective work partnership, with discussions and changes in relation to bilingual education for the deaf and the teaching of Libras.

Keywords: deaf, sign language, teacher training, educacion

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Authors: Mauly Budiyanti, Aisyah M. Anggiana

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Terrorism is a threat to national security since the war on terror era after the tragedy of 9/11. The shifting of national threat from military to non-military centric leads us to recognize that military action is not the only way to face and solve terrorism. Alongside the use of military action to counter terrorism, Indonesia has another way to counter it by using the role of social media. The role of social media on spreading positivity to counter terrorism has the power to show that people now are fearless toward terrorist attack because their goal is to make sure that people are threatened enough by the way they act. This is showing the emergence of the non-state actor has a big impact on national security, as well as pluralism, said about the involving of non-state actor on international events. In this paper, we will examine the role of social media in countering terrorism based on study case in Indonesia.

Keywords: Indonesia, national security, social media, terrorism.

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Authors: Gerhardt Boukes, Maryna Van De Venter, Sharlene Govender

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Macrofungi have been used for the past two thousand years in Asian countries, and more recently in Western countries, for their medicinal properties. Biological activities include antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer and immunomodulatory to name a few. Several biologically active compounds have been identified and isolated. Macrofungal research in Africa is poorly documented and to the best of our knowledge non-existent. South Africa has a rich macrofungal biodiversity, which includes endemic and exotic macrofungal species. Ethanolic extracts of 13 macrofungal species, including mushrooms, bracket fungi and puffballs, were prepared and screened for cytotoxicity against a panel of seven cell lines, including A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma), HeLa (human cervical adenocarcinoma), HT-29 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma), MCF7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), MIA PaCa-2 (human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma), PC-3 (human prostate adenocarcinoma) and Vero (African green monkey kidney epithelial) cells using MTT. Cell lines were chosen according to the most prevalent cancer types affecting males and females in South Africa and globally, and the mutations they contain. Preliminary results have shown that three of the macrofungal genera, i.e. Fomitopsis, Gymnopilus and Pycnoporus, have shown cytotoxic activity, ranging between IC50 ~20 and 200 µg/mL. The molecular mechanism of action contributing to cell death investigated and being investigated include apoptosis (i.e. DNA cell cycle arrest, caspase-3 activation and mitochondrial membrane potential), autophagy (i.e. acridine orange and LC3B staining) and ER stress (i.e. thioflavin T staining and caspase-12) in the presence of melphalan, chloroquine and thapsigargin/tuncamycin as positive controls, respectively. The genus, Pycnoporus, has shown the best cytotoxicity of the three macrofungal genera. Future work will focus on the identification and isolation of novel active compounds and elucidating the mechanism/s of action.

Keywords: cancer, cytotoxicity, macrofungi, mechanism/s of action

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Authors: Rasha F. Sharaf

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Treatment of dental caries in young children is considered a great challenge for all dentists, especially with uncooperative children. Recently non-invasive techniques have been highlighted as they alleviate the need for local anesthesia and other painful procedures during management of carious teeth and, at the same time, increase the success rate of the treatment done. Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) is one of the most effective cariostatic materials that arrest the progression of carious lesions and aid in remineralizing the demineralized tooth structure. Both fluoride and silver ions proved to have an antibacterial action and aid in the precipitation of an insoluble layer that prevents further decay. At the same time, Moringa proved to have an effective antibacterial action against different types of bacteria, therefore, it can be used as a non-invasive technique for the management of caries in children. One of the important theories for the control of caries is by depriving the cariogenic bacteria from nutrients causing their starvation and death, which can be achieved by applying stainless steel crown on primary molars with carious lesions which are not involving the pulp, and this technique is known as Hall technique. The success rate of the Hall technique can be increased by arresting the carious lesion using either SDF or Moringa and gaining the benefit of their antibacterial action. Multiple clinical cases with 1 year follow up will be presented, comparing different treatment options, and using various materials and techniques for non-invasive and non-painful management of carious primary teeth.

Keywords: SDF, hall technique, carious primary teeth, moringa extract

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Authors: Freddy Rodriguez Saza, Erika Sanabria, Jair Tibana

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Currently, the important role of neurosciences in the professional training of the physical educator is known, highlighting in the teaching-learning process aspects such as the nervous structures involved in the adjustment of posture and movement, the neurophysiology of locomotion, the process of nerve impulse transmission, and the relationship between physical activity, learning, and cognition. The teaching-learning process of neurosciences is complex, due to the breadth of the contents, the diversity of teaching contexts required, and the demanding ability to relate concepts from different disciplines, necessary for the correct understanding of the function of the nervous system. This text presents the results of the application of a didactic environment based on the Allosteric Learning Model in morphophysiology students of the Faculty of Military Physical Education, Military School of Cadets of the Colombian Army (Bogotá, Colombia). The research focused then, on analyzing the change in the cognitive structure of the students on neurosciences. Methodology. [1] The predominant learning styles were identified. [2] Students' cognitive structure, core concepts, and threshold concepts were analyzed through the construction of Pathfinder Associative Networks. [3] Didactic Units in Neuroscience were designed to favor metacognition, the development of Executive Functions (working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control) that led students to recognize their errors and conceptual distortions and to overcome them. [4] The Teacher's Professional Knowledge and the role of the assessment strategies applied were taken into account, taking into account the perspective of the Dynamizer, Obstacle, and Questioning axes. In conclusion, the study found that physical education students achieved significant learning in neuroscience, favored by the development of executive functions and by didactic environments oriented with the predominant learning styles and focused on increasing cognitive networks and overcoming difficulties, neuromyths and neurophobia.

Keywords: allosteric learning model, military physical education, neurosciences, pathfinder associative networks, teacher professional knowledge

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Authors: Manal M. H. Said Najjar

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Arab Grammarians stood at variance with regard to the definition of kana (which might equal was, were, the past form of “be” in English). Kana was considered as a verb, a particle, or a quasi-verb by different scholars; others saw it as an auxiliary verb; while some other scholars categorized kana as one of the incomplete verbs or (Afa’al naqisa) based on two different claims: first, a considerable group of grammarians saw kana as fie’l naqis or an incomplete verb since it indicates time, but not the event or action itself. Second, kana requires a predicate (xabar) to complete the meaning, i.e., it does not suffice itself with a noun in the nominal sentence. This study argues that categorizing the verb kana as fie’l naqis or an incomplete verb is inaccurate and confusing since the term “incomplete” does not agree with its characteristics, meanings, and temporal indications. Moreover, interpreting kana as a past verb is also inaccurate. kana كان (derived from the absolute action of being كون) is considered unique and the most comprehensive verb, encompassing all tenses of the past, present, and future within the dimensions of continuity and eternity of all possible actions under “being”.

Keywords: pragmatics, kana, context, Arab grammarians, meaning, fie’l naqis

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