Search results for: relationship satisfaction

Authors: Girish Chandran, Milu Tigi

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Brian O'Doherty's seminal essay, Inside the white Cube theorized and named the dominant mode of display and exhibition of Modern Art museums. Ever since the advent of Biennales and other site-specific public art projects we have seen a departure from the white cube mode of exhibition. The physicality, materiality and context within which an artwork is framed has a role in the production of meaning of public art. Equally, artworks contribute to the meaning and identity of a place. This to and fro relationship between the site and artwork and its influence on the sense of place and production of meaning is being explored in this paper in the context of Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB). Known as the Peoples biennale with over 5 lakh visitors, it is India's first Biennale and its largest art exhibition of contemporary art. The paper employs place theory and contemporary curatorial theories to present the case. The KMB has an interesting mix of exhibition spaces which includes existing galleries and halls, site-specific projects in public spaces, infill developments and adaptive reuse of heritage and other unused architecture. The biennale was envisioned as an event connecting to the history, socio-political peculiarities of the cultural landscape of Kerala and more specifically Kochi. The paper explains the role of spatial elements in forming a curatorial narrative connected to the above mentioned ambitions.The site-specific nature of exhibition and its use of unused architecture helps in the formation of exhibition spaces unique in type and materiality. The paper argues how this helps in the creation of an 'archeology of the place'. The research elucidates how a composite nature of experience helps connect with the thematic ambitions of the Biennale and how it brings about an aesthetics distinct to KMB.

Keywords: public art, curatorial practice, architecture, place, contemporary art, site specificity

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Authors: Dishari Rakshit, Mitchell Gallagher

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The global landscape is witnessing a disconcerting surge in democratic backsliding, engendering concerns over the rise of autocratisation. This research demonstrates the intricate relationship between a nation's domestic propensity for autocratic governance and its trade relations with China. Giving prominence to Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments, this study adopts a rigorous neorealist framework to discern the complexities of nations' economic interests amidst an anarchic milieu and how these interests may transcend steadfast adherence to democratic principles. The burgeoning bipolarity in the international political setting serves as a backdrop to our inquiry. To operationalise our hypothesis, we conduct a large-scale 'N' study, encompassing a comprehensive global dataset comprising countries' democracy indicators, total trade volume with China, and cumulative Chinese BRI investments over a substantial temporal expanse. By meticulously examining BRI signatories’, we aim to ascertain the potential accentuation of democratic backsliding among these nations. To test our empirical underpinning, we will validate our findings through cogent case studies. Our analysis adds to the scholarship on multifaceted interactions between trade dynamics and democratic governance within the fabric of the international political landscape. In its culmination, the paper addresses the question- has the erstwhile grandeur of bipolarity resurfaced in the contemporary global panorama? Concurrently, we explore the nexus between the ascendant wave of autocratisation as a by-product of the Beijing Consensus? Pertinent to policymakers, our discoveries stand poised to furnish a comprehensive grasp of the manifold implications arising from the deepening entanglements with China under the auspices of the BRI.

Keywords: democracy, autocracy, china, belt road initiative, international political economy

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Authors: Deniz Erten

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This paper delves into the multifaceted nature of human consciousness, examining its structure through the lens of three distinct selves. These selves represent varying thresholds of consciousness, characterized by seven soul levels and seven nafs levels. The attainment of gamma brain wave states signifies the emergence of the Perfect Human Being, whose consciousness transcends the boundaries of individuality to encompass the entirety of existence. Central to this exploration is the notion that consciousness pervades all aspects of reality, underscoring the significance of a comprehensive understanding of the concept of God. Contrary to conventional beliefs, God is not to be construed as a person but rather as an all-encompassing consciousness that manifests within every sentient being. The post-mortem journey through black holes and wormholes, culminating in an encounter with one's creations in the quantum field, provides compelling evidence for the mental nature of the universe. Drawing distinctions between mind and consciousness, as well as self and spirit, elucidates the intricate dynamics underlying human existence. The fusion of body and spirit gives rise to the self, or avatar, which undergoes trials to ascend towards divine consciousness within the Creator's simulated reality. The concept of observation, rooted in the Arabic term "Shahada," underscores the importance of introspection in the quest for enlightenment. The convergence of disciplines such as quantum physics, neuroscience, and religious scriptures like the Quran highlights humanity's collective state of unawareness, with dreams serving as windows into different levels of consciousness. This study further explores the nuanced relationship between consciousness and self, examining the hierarchical progression of the avatar's journey towards spiritual realization.

Keywords: avatar, black holes, cosmic interconnectedness, consciousness, divine matrix, divine simulation, existential exploration, God consciousness, interdisciplinary perspective, levels of consciousness, quantum field, Quran, spiritual realization, Sufism, universal consciousness

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Authors: Lindy Van Vliet, Saloni Phadke, Anthea Nelson, Ann Gallant

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Holistic and patient-centred palliative care and support require an integrated system of care that includes health and social service providers working together to ensure that patients and families have access to the care they need. The objective of this study is to further explore and understand the benefits and challenges of mobilizing multidisciplinary care teams for health care professionals and social service providers. Drawing on an interpretivist, exploratory, qualitative design, our multidisciplinary research team (medicine, nursing and social work) conducted interviews with 15 health care and social service providers in the Ottawa region. Interview data was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach. The data deepens our understandings of the facilitators and barriers posed by multidisciplinary care teams. Three main findings emerged: First, the data highlighted the benefits of multidisciplinary care teams for both patient outcomes and quality of life and provider mental health; second, the data showed that the lack of a system-wide integrated communication system reduces the quality of patient care and increases provider stress while working in multidisciplinary care teams; finally, the data demonstrated the existence of implicit hierarchies between disciplines, this coupled with different disciplinary perspectives of palliative care provision can lead to friction and challenges within care teams. These findings will have important implications for the future of palliative care as they will help to facilitate and build stronger person-centred/relationship-centred palliative care practices by naming the challenges faced by multidisciplinary palliative care teams and providing examples of best practices.

Keywords: public health palliative care, palliative care nursing, care networks, integrated health care, palliative care approach, public health, multidisciplinary work, care teams

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Authors: Umamaheswara Rao Jada, Susmita Mukhopadhyay

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In the present highly complex, dynamic and interdependent organizational environment, employees' ideas, opinions and suggestions which is technically referred to as ‘constructive employee voice’ is increasingly being recognized and valued. Literature has consistently demonstrated the relevance of leadership in employee voicing behavior, however the new form of leadership, ‘empowering leadership’ has not been given much attention. The study, therefore, devotes itself to the effort to explore the impact of this new form of leadership on employee voice behavior and the interplay with leader member exchange (LMX) and psychological safety as mediators in the same. The study utilizes structural equation modeling for analyzing the data collected from 310 Indian service industry employees through the questionnaire developed for the study. The findings of the study demonstrate the significant impact of empowering form of leadership on employees’ constructive voice behavior. Additionally, supporting results were observed for the mediating impact of leader member exchange (LMX) and psychological safety between empowering leadership and employees’ constructive voice behavior. The results of this study provide insights into the intervening mechanisms by linking leaders’ empowering behavior with employees’ constructive voice, while also highlighting the potential importance of LMX relationship in organizations and psychological safety in the context of constructive voice behavior. The study brings forth the relevance of the new form of leadership, ‘empowering leadership’ for fostering the better exchange of ideas, opinions, and suggestions between leaders and followers which tend to benefit the organization, providing empirical evidence of the sequential mediation of LMX and psychological safety. The piece of work is assumed to benefit the leaders in organizations by providing them the basis for adopting empowering form of leadership in light of results displayed.

Keywords: constructive voice, empowering leadership, leader member exchange (LMX), psychological safety, sequential mediation, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Henry Prihanto Nugroho

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This paper suggests education tourism as an option into developing more sustainable mass tourism. Identifying the potential of education tourism and developing a sustainable packages will have an impact on social economic development in the area. Indonesia especially Yogyakarta can increase their tourism earnings by tapping into this growing market phenomenon. Educational tourism, a growing part in the world tourism market, has attracted great attention because of its direct impact on the community and as an alternative strategy for poverty alleviation. Tourism is considered as one of the main industries and sectors highly contributing to economic development in Indonesia especially in Yogyakarta, this region can be an ideal case for studying the issue of educational tourism in Universitas Gadjah Mada. This paper tries to introduce the educational tourism as an important alternative source of the economy accelerator in the context of Yogyakarta Indonesia. This paper also aims to discuss the education tourism potential at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia then to create and established an Education Tourism package at Gadjah Mada University. Education Tourism is a means to empower academics, local community, local businesses, and to improve the economic welfare. Methods: Focus group discussions, direct observation, survey and best practice method. Conclusion: There is a positive relationship between attitude, environmental impact, economic impact, and socio-cultural impacts and practice in the field when the potential is seized. The findings incorporate insights into the socio-cultural and economic potential of education tourism and practices related to community development at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia by creating an Education Tourism Packages that will suit the needs of the tourist. Educational tourism can create sustainable development for local communities, academic society, universities, and stakeholders.

Keywords: education tourism, Gadjah Mada, sustainable, tourism

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Authors: Ali Albadri

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The logistics equation has never been used or studied in scientific fields outside the field of ecology. It has never been used to understand the behavior of a dynamic system of mechanical machines, like an escalator. We have studied the compatibility of the logistic map against real measurements from an escalator. This study has proven that there is good compatibility between the logistics equation and the experimental measurements. It has discovered the potential of a relationship between the fractal dimension and the non-linearity parameter, R, in the logistics equation. The fractal dimension increases as the R parameter (non-linear parameter) increases. It implies that the fractal dimension increases as the phase of the life span of the machine move from the steady/stable phase to the periodic double phase to a chaotic phase. The fractal dimension and the parameter R can be used as a tool to verify and check the health of machines. We have come up with a theory that there are three areas of behaviors, which they can be classified during the life span of a machine, a steady/stable stage, a periodic double stage, and a chaotic stage. The level of attention to the machine differs depending on the stage that the machine is in. The rate of faults in a machine increases as the machine moves through these three stages. During the double period and the chaotic stages, the number of faults starts to increase and become less predictable. The rate of predictability improves as our monitoring of the changes in the fractal dimension and the parameter R improves. The principles and foundations of our theory in this work have and will have a profound impact on the design of systems, on the way of operation of systems, and on the maintenance schedules of the systems. The systems can be mechanical, electrical, or electronic. The discussed methodology in this paper will give businesses the chance to be more careful at the design stage and planning for maintenance to control costs. The findings in this paper can be implied and used to correlate the three stages of a mechanical system to more in-depth mechanical parameters like wear and fatigue life.

Keywords: logistcs map, bifurcation map, fractal dimension, logistics equation

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Authors: Mohamed M. Elsherbiny, Ahmed T. Helal Ibrahim

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Social isolation is one of the common problems faced visual impaired students especially in new situations. It refers to lack of interactions with others (students, staff members, and others) and dissatisfaction of social networks with others. In addition, it means "a lack of quantity and quality of social contacts". The situation became more complicated if we know that visual impaired students at Sultan Qaboos University were in special schools for the blind completely away from any integration with regular student, which may lead to isolation for being with regular students for the first time. Because the researcher is an academic advisor for all blind students in the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University, he has noted (from the regular meetings with them) some aspects of isolation and many complaints from staff which motivated the researcher to try to alleviate the problem. Logotherapy is an important therapy used in clinical social work with various problems to help children and young people who are facing problems related to the lack of meaning in their life. So, the aim of the therapy is to find meaning in life and to be satisfied with that life. The basic meaning for visual impaired students in this study is to provide opportunities to build relationships and friendships with others and help them to be satisfied about interactions with their networks. The study aimed to identify whether there is a relationship between the use of logotherapy and alleviating social isolation for visual impaired students. This study is considered one of the quasi-experimental studies, the researcher has used experimental method. The researcher used one design which is before and after experiment on two groups, one control (did not apply to the therapy) and experimental group which is applied to the therapy. About the study tools, social isolation scale (SIS) was used to assess the degree of isolation. The sample was (20) of the visually impaired students at the College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University. The results showed the effectiveness of logotherapy in alleviating isolation for students.

Keywords: social isolation, logotherapy, visually impaired, disability

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Authors: Khushboo Verma

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The use of rape as a weapon of war has been in existence for as early as the middle ages. Women, during the conflict, have been treated as the spoils of war, a reward for the conquering soldiers granted to them by their superiors which is, arguably, most often overlooked as part of the collateral damage that is unavoidable in conflict zones. Korean-born Therese Park’s first novel, A Gift of the Emperor (1997), describes one such atrocious incidence wherein she highlights the active role the Japanese military played in procuring and condoning trafficking of women, who were euphemistically referred to as ‘comfort women’, for prostitution during World War II. This paper thus aims to look at the remembering and reckonings of these women, which fueled a range of creative gestures in the artistic representations and knowledge production by Korean American artists and writers. The essay divides into three parts wherein first it tries to highlight the relationship of the state and the self in relation to the ‘comfort women’ as to who bears the onus of the exploitation of these women, or the responsibility for the redressal with the present-day notions of human rights as studied through Ueno Chizuko’s ‘The Politics of Memory: Nation, Individual and Self’ (1999). There are several narratological elements of the text that are of interest here which shall be viewed and analysed throughout the paper as well. The second part of the paper talks about the aesthetics of rape and sexual violence as represented or (mis)represented by Park in her novel as she attempts to give voice to the victim and retain her and her suffering as the central focus of the narrative. Finally, the third part of the novel explores as well as places the novel in the context of debates over the highly contested issue of ‘comfort women’ and the actual ‘comfort women’ survivors’ testimonies. For this purpose, the present study focuses on Dori Laub’s ‘Truth and Testimony: The Process and the Struggle’ (1991).

Keywords: Korean comfort women, survivors’ testimonies, sexual slavery, aesthetics of sexual violence, horrible memories

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Authors: Jingcheng Ma, Patricia B. Weisensee, Young H. Shin, Yujin Chang, Junjiao Tian, William P. King, Nenad Miljkovic

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Water droplet impact on surfaces is a ubiquitous phenomenon in both nature and industry. The transfer of mass, momentum and energy can be influenced by the time of contact between droplet and surface. In order to reduce the contact time, we study the influence of substrate motion prior to impact on the dynamics of droplet recoil. Using optical high speed imaging, we investigated the impact dynamics of macroscopic water droplets (~ 2mm) on rigid nanostructured superhydrophobic surfaces vibrating at 60 – 300 Hz and amplitudes of 0 – 3 mm. In addition, we studied the influence of the phase of the substrate at the moment of impact on total contact time. We demonstrate that substrate vibration can alter droplet dynamics, and decrease total contact time by as much as 50% compared to impact on stationary rigid superhydrophobic surfaces. Impact analysis revealed that the vibration frequency mainly affected the maximum contact time, while the amplitude of vibration had little direct effect on the contact time. Through mathematical modeling, we show that the oscillation amplitude influences the possibility density function of droplet impact at a given phase, and thus indirectly influences the average contact time. We also observed more vigorous droplet splashing and breakup during impact at larger amplitudes. Through semi-empirical mathematical modeling, we describe the relationship between contact time and vibration frequency, phase, and amplitude of the substrate. We also show that the maximum acceleration during the impact process is better suited as a threshold parameter for the onset of splashing than a Weber-number criterion. This study not only provides new insights into droplet impact physics on vibrating surfaces, but develops guidelines for the rational design of surfaces to achieve controllable droplet wetting in applications utilizing vibration.

Keywords: contact time, impact dynamics, oscillation, pear-shape droplet

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Authors: Muhammad Anjum Aqueel, Muhammad Jaffar Hussain, Abu Bakar Muhammad Raza

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Diaeretiella rapae (M’Intosh) attack most of the aphid species. However, it is specialized in feeding on crucifer aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae. Biological potential of parasitoid is its density-dependency due to sharing of limited resources in few cases. The present study was carried out to check the biotic potential of D. rapae at its different densities (1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 pairs) on fixed number of B. brassicae (100 in number) as a host. The present study was performed under laboratory conditions (25 ± 2 ºC temperature and 65-70 % R.H.). Different biological parameters for parasitoid (e.g. percent parasitism, adult emergence, adult longevity and per pair parasitism) were evaluated to check its biotic potential. The present findings showed that maximum parasitism (43.09 % ± 0.63) was observed in highest density (10 pairs) and minimum parasitism (16.59 % ± 1.28) in lowest density (1 pair) of the parasitoid. Maximum adult emergence (80.31 % ± 1.33) was observed in highest density (10 pairs) and minimum parasitism (45.99 % ± 1.27) in lowest density (1 pair) of the parasitoid. In the case of adult longevity, highest (8.2 days ± 0.38) and lowest (6 days ± 0.32) longevity were observed in lowest (1 pair) and highest (10 pairs) densities of parasitoids respectively. However, per pair parasitism rate decreased with the increase in parasitoid densities due to intra-specific competition, developed between the parasitoids for parasitism. The positive but close relationship was observed between percent parasitism and adult emergence. The increase in parasitoid densities increased the percent parasitism and adult emergence of the parasitoid. So, we conclude that an inter-specific competition negatively affected the efficacy of parasitoids and may reduce the fitness of the emerging parasitoid.

Keywords: Diaeretiella rapae, Parasitoid densities, Percent parasitism, adult emergence

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Authors: Spyridon Komaitis, Christos Koutsarnakis, Evangelos Drosos, Aristotelis Kalyvas

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This study opts to investigate the intrinsic architecture, morphology, and spatial relationship of the subcortical pathways implicated in the connectivity of the motor/premotor cortex and SMA/pre-SMA complex. Twenty normal, adult, formalin-fixed cerebral hemispheres were explored through the fiber micro-dissection technique. Lateral to medial and medial to lateral dissections focused on the area of interest were performed in a tandem manner and under the surgical microscope. We traced the subcortical architecture, spatial relationships, and axonal connectivity of four major pathways: a) the dorsal component of the SLF (SLF-I) was found to reside in the medial aspect of the hemisphere and seen to connect the precuneus with the SMA and pre-SMA complex, b) the frontal longitudinal system (FLS) was consistently encountered as the natural anterior continuation of the SLF-II and SLF-III and connected the premotor and prefrontal cortices c) the fronto-caudate tract (FCT), a fan-shaped tract, was documented to participate in connectivity of the prefrontal and premotor cortices to the head and body of the caudate nucleus and d) the cortico-tegmental tract(CTT) was invariably recorded to subserve the connectivity of the tegmental area with the fronto-parietal cortex. No hemispheric asymmetries were recorded for any of the implicated pathways. Sub-segmentation systems were also proposed for each of the aforementioned tracts. The structural connectivity and functional specialization of motor and premotor areas in the human brain remain vague to this day as most of the available evidence derives either from animal or tractographic studies. By using the fiber-microdissection technique as our main method of investigation, we provide sound structural evidence on the delicate anatomy of the related white matter pathways.

Keywords: neuroanatomy, premotor, motor, connectivity

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Authors: Elham Abbas Aljaaly, Nahlaa Abdulwahab Khalifa

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The active method of disease prevention is seen as the most affordable and sustainable action to deal with risks of non-communicable diseases such as obesity. This eight-week project aimed to pilot the feasibility and acceptability of a school-based programme, which is proposed to prevent and modify overweight status and possible related risk factors among student girls 'at the intermediate level' in Jeddah city. The programme was conducted through comprehensible approach targeting physical environment and school policies (nutritional/exercise/behavioural approach). The programme was designed to cultivate the personal and environmental awareness in schools for girls. This was applied by promoting healthy eating and physical activity through policies, physical education, healthier options for school canteens, and the creation of school health teams. The prevention programme was applied on 68 students (who agreed to participate) from grades 7th, 8th and 9th. A pre and post assessment questionnaire was employed on 66 students. The questionnaires were designed to obtain information on students' knowledge about health, nutrition and physical activity. Survey questions included information about nutrients, food consumption patterns, food intake and lifestyle. Physical education included training sessions for new opportunities for physical activities to be performed during school or after school hours. A running competition 'to enhance students’ performance for physical activities' was also conducted during the school visit. A visit to the school canteen was conducted to check, observe, record and assess all available food/beverage items and meals. The assessment method was a subjective method for the type of food/beverages if high in saturated fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) or non-HFSS. The school canteen administrators were encouraged to provide healthy food/beverage items and a sample healthy canteen was provided for implementation. Two healthy options were introduced to the school canteen. A follow up for students’ preferences for the introduced options and the purchasing power were assessed. Thirty-eight percent of young girls (n=26) were not participating in any form of physical activities inside or outside school. Skipping breakfast was stated by 42% (n=28) of students with no daily consumption (19%, n=13) for fruit/vegetables. Significant changes were noticed in students’ (n=66) overall responses to the pre and post questions (P value=.001). All students had participated in the conducted running competition sessions and reported satisfaction and enjoyment about the sessions. No absence was reported by the research team for attending physical education and activity sessions throughout the delivered programme. The purchasing power of the introduced healthy options of 'Salad and oatmeal' was increased to 18% in 8 weeks at the school canteen, and slightly affected the purchase for other less healthy options. The piloted programme indorsed better health and nutrition knowledge, healthy eating and lifestyle attitude, which could help young girls to obtain sustainable changes. It is expected that the outcomes of the programme will be a cornerstone for the futuristic national study that will assist policy makers and participants to build a knowledgeable health promotion scenario and make sure that school students have access to healthy foods, physical exercise and healthy lifestyle.

Keywords: adolescents, diet, exercise, behaviours, overweight/obesity, prevention-intervention programme, Saudi Arabia, schoolgirls

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Authors: Andrew Kirabira

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This study is an investigation into the effectiveness of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies in improving productivity through managing biotic and abiotic stresses in the coffee agroecological zones of Uganda. The motive is to enhance farmer livelihoods. The study was initiated as a result of the decreasing productivity of the crop in Uganda caused by the increasing prevalence of pests, diseases and abiotic stresses. Despite 9 years of farmers’ application of CSA, productivity has stagnated between 700kg -800kg/ha/yr which is only 26% of the 3-5tn/ha/yr that CSA is capable of delivering if properly applied. This has negatively affected the incomes of the 10.6 million people along the crop value chain which has in essence affected the country’s national income. In 2019/20 FY for example, Uganda suffered a deficit of $40m out of singularly the increasing incidence of one pest; BCTB. The amalgamation of such trends cripples the realization of SDG #1 and #13 which are the eradication of poverty and mitigation of climate change, respectively. In probing CSA’s effectiveness in curbing such a trend, this study is guided by the objectives of; determining the existing farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of CSA amongst the coffee farmers in the diverse coffee agro-ecological zones of Uganda; examining the relationship between the use of CSA and prevalence of selected coffee pests, diseases and abiotic stresses; ascertaining the difference in the market organization and pricing between conventionally and CSA produced coffee; and analyzing the prevailing policy environment concerning the use of CSA in coffee production. The data collection research design is descriptive in nature; collecting data from farmers and agricultural extension workers in the districts of Ntungamo, Iganga and Luweero; each of these districts representing a distinct coffee agroecological zone. Policy custodian officers at district, cooperatives and at the crop’s overseeing national authority were also interviewed.

Keywords: climate change, food security, field stresses, Productivity

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Authors: Dylan Yanano Mangani, Theodore Nkadimeng Mahosi

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Soon after independence on 18th April 1980, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy was shaped by the realities on the ground, which saw the country managing a sound relationship with both the Capitalist West and the Communist Eastern blocs. The post-independence foreign policy was therefore premised on security concerns illuminated by the Cold War era. This was one the reasons President Robert Mugabe adopted a policy of reconciliation and this earned his government recognition on the international platform. However, in Southern Africa apartheid South Africa was still the vanguard of capitalism and oppression such that she posed a serious threat to the newly born Zimbabwean nation which necessitated that Zimbabwe position herself both in the region and the continent to counter potential internal stability from within. Irrespective of how the international community viewed the country’s foreign policy Zimbabwe has continued to influence regional, continental and world geo-politics, especially on behalf of the developing nations. This raises a question why as a result of its foreign policy the country is now regarded a pariah state, especially some Western countries which used to applaud its political economic policies immediately after independence. Therefore, this study argues that the political economy of Zimbabwe had a far-reaching bearing on its foreign policy. For this reason, the problem necessitates the investigation of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy perspectives in Southern Africa since the turn of the 1990s. Two main theories which are Realism, Afro-centrism inform the study as an attempt to understand Zimbabwe’s foreign policy paradigm shift and perhaps provide answers to the objectives raised. The research therefore employs a qualitative approach where the conceptual nature of the study into the foreign policy of Zimbabwe is largely desktop research. However, the nature of the study will also require that oral interviews are conducted to substantiate some of the arguments advanced.

Keywords: cold war set up, foreign policy, look east policy, pan-africanism, post 2000 period, Southern Africa, Zimbabwe

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Authors: Sina Mahdavi

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Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the CNS that affects the myelination process in the central nervous system (CNS). Complex interactions of various "environmental or infectious" factors may act as triggers in autoimmunity and disease progression. The association between viral infections, especially human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) and MS is one potential cause that is not well understood. This study aims to summarize the available data on HERV infection in MS disease progression. Materials and Methods: For this study, the keywords "Multiple sclerosis", "Human endogenous retrovirus", and "central nervous system" in the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Sid, and MagIran between 2016 and 2022 were searched and 14 articles chosen, studied, and analyzed. Results: In the leptomeningeal cells of MS patients, a retrovirus-like element associated with reverse transcriptase (RT) activity called multiple sclerosis-associated retroviruses (MSRV) has been identified. HERVs are expressed in the human CNS despite mechanisms to suppress their expression. External factors, especially viral infections such as influenza virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and herpes simplex virus type 1, can activate HERV gene expression. The MSRV coat protein is activated by activating TLR4 at the brain surface, particularly in oligodendroglial progenitor cells and macrophages, leading to immune cascades followed by the downregulation of myelin protein expression. The HERV-K18 envelope gene (env) acts as a superantigen and induces inflammatory responses in patients with MS. Conclusion: There is a high expression of endogenous retroviruses during the course of MS, which indicates the relationship between HERV and MS, that this virus can play a role in the development of MS by creating an inflammatory state. Therefore, measures to modulate the expression of endogenous retroviruses may be effective in reducing inflammatory processes in demyelinated areas of MS patients.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, human endogenous retrovirus, central nervous system, MSRV

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Authors: Enrique Claver Cortés, Bartolomé Marco Lajara, Eduardo Sánchez García, Pedro Seva Larrosa, Encarnación Manresa Marhuenda, Lorena Ruiz Fernández, Esther Poveda Pareja

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In recent decades, the analysis of the effects of clustering as an essential factor for the development of innovations and the competitiveness of enterprises has raised great interest in different areas. Nowadays, companies have access to almost all tangible and intangible resources located and/or developed in any country in the world. However, despite the obvious advantages that this situation entails for companies, their geographical location has shown itself, increasingly clearly, to be a fundamental factor that positively influences their innovative performance and competitiveness. Industrial clusters could represent a unique level of analysis, positioned between the individual company and the industry, which makes them an ideal unit of analysis to determine the effects derived from company membership of a cluster. Also, the absorptive capacity (hereinafter 'AC') can mediate the process of innovation development by companies located in a cluster. The transformation and exploitation of knowledge could have a mediating effect between knowledge acquisition and innovative performance. The main objective of this work is to determine the key factors that affect the degree of generation and use of knowledge from the environment by companies and, consequently, their innovative performance and competitiveness. The elements analyzed are the companies' membership of a cluster and the AC. To this end, 30 most relevant papers published on this subject in the "Web of Science" database have been reviewed. Our findings show that, within a cluster, the knowledge coming from the companies' environment can significantly influence their innovative performance and competitiveness, although in this relationship, the degree of access and exploitation of the companies to this knowledge plays a fundamental role, which depends on a series of elements both internal and external to the company.

Keywords: absorptive capacity, clusters, innovation, knowledge

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Authors: Gelu Varghese, Khizer Saeed

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Biodiesel is as a mixture of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. Recent studies in the literature suggest that end property of biodiesel such as its oxidative stability (OS) is highly influenced by the structure and composition of its alkyl esters than by environmental conditions. The structure and composition of these long chain fatty acid components have been also associated with trends in Cetane number, heat of combustion, cold flow properties viscosity, and lubricity. In the present work, detailed investigation has been carried out to decouple and correlate the fatty acid structure indices of biodiesel such as degree of unsaturation, chain length, double bond orientation, and composition with its oxidative stability. Measurements were taken using the EN14214 established Rancimat oxidative stability test method (EN141120). Firstly, effects of the degree of unsaturation, chain length and bond orientation were tested for the pure fatty acids to establish their oxidative stability. Results for pure Fatty acid show that Saturated FAs are more stable than unsaturated ones to oxidation; superior oxidative stability can be achieved by blending biodiesel fuels with relatively high in saturated fatty acid contents. A lower oxidative stability is noticed when a greater quantity of double bonds is present in the methyl ester. A strong inverse relationship with the number of double bonds and the Rancimat IP values can be identified. Trans isomer Methyl elaidate shows superior stability to oxidation than its cis isomer methyl oleate (7.2 vs. 2.3). Secondly, the effects of the variation in the composition of the biodiesel were investigated and established. Finally, biodiesels with varying structure and composition were investigated and correlated.

Keywords: biodiesel, fame, oxidative stability, fatty acid structure, acid composition

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Authors: Hubert Feiglstorfer

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Due to its location in a transition zone from the Pannonian to the pre-Alpine region, the east of Austria shows a small-scale diversity in the regional development of certain vernacular building techniques. In this article the relationship between natural building material resources, topography and climate will be examined. Besides environmental preconditions, social and economic historical factors have developed different construction techniques within certain regions in the Weinviertel and Burgenland, the two eastern federal states of Austria. But even within these regions, varying building techniques were found, due to the locally different use of raw materials like wood, stone, clay, lime, or organic fibres. Within these small-scale regions, building traditions were adapted over the course of time due to changes in the use of the building material, for example from wood to brick or from wood to earth. The processing of the raw materials varies from region to region, for example as rammed earth, cob, log, or brick construction. Environmental preconditions cross national borders. For that reason, developments in the neighbouring countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia are included in this analysis. As an outcome of this research a map was drawn which shows the interrelation between locally available building materials, topography, climate and local building techniques? As a result of this study, which covers the last 300 years, one can see how the local population used natural resources very sensitively adapted to local environmental preconditions. In the case of clay, for example, changes of proportions of lime and particular minerals cause structural changes that differ from region to region. Based on material analyses in the field of clay mineralogy, on ethnographic research, literature and archive research, explanations for certain local structural developments will be given for the first time over the region of East Austria.

Keywords: European crafts, material culture, architectural history, earthen architecture, earth building history

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Authors: Xiaoqing Wang, Jianjian Zong, Li Li, Yanxing Zheng, Jinrong Tong, Mao Zhan

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With the rapid development of network and communication technology, a great deal of data has been generated in different domains of a network. These data show a trend of increasing scale and more complex structure. Therefore, an effective and flexible cross-domain data-sharing system is needed. The Cross-domain Data Sharing System(CDSS) in a net-centric environment is composed of three sub-systems. The data distribution sub-system provides data exchange service through publish-subscribe technology that supports asynchronism and multi-to-multi communication, which adapts to the needs of the dynamic and large-scale distributed computing environment. The access control sub-system adopts Attribute-Based Access Control(ABAC) technology to uniformly model various data attributes such as subject, object, permission and environment, which effectively monitors the activities of users accessing resources and ensures that legitimate users get effective access control rights within a legal time. The cross-domain access security negotiation subsystem automatically determines the access rights between different security domains in the process of interactive disclosure of digital certificates and access control policies through trust policy management and negotiation algorithms, which provides an effective means for cross-domain trust relationship establishment and access control in a distributed environment. The CDSS’s asynchronous,multi-to-multi and loosely-coupled communication features can adapt well to data exchange and sharing in dynamic, distributed and large-scale network environments. Next, we will give CDSS new features to support the mobile computing environment.

Keywords: data sharing, cross-domain, data exchange, publish-subscribe

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Authors: Saeed Pourhassan, Nastaran Maghbouli

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Statement of the problem: The relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseases has been studied widely(1). The distribution of fat tissue gained attention in relation to cardiovascular risk factors during lang-time research (2). American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) is widely and the most reliable tool to be used as a cardiovascular risk (CVR) assessment tool(3). This study aimed to determine which anthropometric index is better in discrimination of high CVR patients from low risks using ACC/AHA score in addition to finding the best index as a CVR predictor among both genders in different races and countries. Methodology & theoretical orientation: The literature in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched by two independent investigators using the keywords "anthropometric indices," "cardiovascular risk," and "obesity." The search strategy was limited to studies published prior to Jan 2022 as full-texts in the English language. Studies using ACC/AHA risk assessment tool as CVR and those consisted at least 2 anthropometric indices (ancient ones and novel ones) are included. Study characteristics and data were extracted. The relative risks were pooled with the use of the random-effect model. Analysis was repeated in subgroups. Findings: Pooled relative risk for 7 studies with 16,348 participants were 1.56 (1.35-1.72) for BMI, 1.67(1.36-1.83) for WC [waist circumference], 1.72 (1.54-1.89) for WHR [waist-to-hip ratio], 1.60 (1.44-1.78) for WHtR [waist-to-height ratio], 1.61 (1.37-1.82) for ABSI [A body shape index] and 1.63 (1.32-1.89) for CI [Conicity index]. Considering gender, WC among females and WHR among men gained the highest RR. The heterogeneity of studies was moderate (α²: 56%), which was not decreased by subgroup analysis. Some indices such as VAI and LAP were evaluated just in one study. Conclusion & significance: This meta-analysis showed WHR could predict CVR better in comparison to BMI or WHtR. Some new indices like CI and ABSI are less accurate than WHR and WC. Among women, WC seems to be a better choice to predict cardiovascular disease risk.

Keywords: obesity, cardiovascular disease, risk assessment, anthropometric indices

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Authors: Lynn Mcquarrie, Charlotte Enns

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The goal of this project was to develop a visually-based, signed language phonological awareness training program and to pilot the intervention with signing deaf children (ages 6 -10 years/ grades 1 - 4) who were beginning readers to assess the effects of systematic explicit American Sign Language (ASL) phonological instruction on both ASL vocabulary and English print vocabulary learning. Growing evidence that signing learners utilize visually-based signed language phonological knowledge (homologous to the sound-based phonological level of spoken language processing) when reading underscore the critical need for further research on the innovation of reading instructional practices for visual language learners. Multiple single-case studies using a multiple probe design across content (i.e., sign and print targets incorporating specific ASL phonological parameters – handshapes) was implemented to examine if a functional relationship existed between instruction and acquisition of these skills. The results indicated that for all cases, representing a variety of language abilities, the visually-based phonological teaching approach was exceptionally powerful in helping children to build their sign and print vocabularies. Although intervention/teaching studies have been essential in testing hypotheses about spoken language phonological processes supporting non-deaf children’s reading development, there are no parallel intervention/teaching studies exploring hypotheses about signed language phonological processes in supporting deaf children’s reading development. This study begins to provide the needed evidence to pursue innovative teaching strategies that incorporate the strengths of visual learners.

Keywords: American sign language phonological awareness, dual language strategies, vocabulary learning, word reading

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Authors: Mahta Mohamadkashi

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The family is the most important source of security and health for the people of the society, and at the same time, it is the main field of creating all kinds of social and psychological problems. On the one hand, a family is a natural group with many goals and roles that are important and necessary for all family members. On the other hand, the family is a strong and organized group that recruits the therapist because of the goals that are concealed in its policy and procedures. The relationship between the environment and the family background with mental illnesses has been the focus of various researchers for a long time, and the research and experiments that have been conducted to show that the functioning of the family is related to the mental health of the members of the family. Currently, several theoretical perspectives with different approaches seek to explain and resolve psychological problems and family conflicts that can be mentioned. This research aims to investigate "cognitive-behavioral family therapy" by using the "family therapy" research method which is included the descriptive-analytical method and the method of collecting library information, with special reliance on Persian and Latin books and articles. for considering one of the important approaches of family therapy that we are going which have been known as data and its conditions that also includes requirements and limitations. For this purpose, in the beginning, brief background and introduction about family and family therapy are going to describe, and then the basics of cognitive-behavioral family therapy and the implementation process and various techniques of this approach can go through a big discussion. After that, we will apply this approach in the treatment of various physical and mental diseases in the form of related research, and we will examine the ups and downs of the implementation procedures, limitations, and future directions in this field. In general, This study emphasizes the role of the family system in the occurrence of psychological diseases and disorders and also validates the role of the family system in the treatment of those diseases and disorders. Also, cognitive-behavioral family therapy has been approved as an effective treatment approach for a variety of mental disorders.

Keywords: cognitive-behavioral, family, family therapy, cognitive-behavioral family therapy

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Authors: Nattapol Pourprasert

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This study has an objective to analyze foreign policy of member states in globalization current, aiming to answer that the foreign policy of member states have been changed or remained the same and there are any factors affecting changing of foreign policy of the member states. From the study results, it is found that the foreign policy of Thailand is a friendly foreign policy with all states. The policy of Indonesia is more opened because of a change in leader, allowing more democratic development in the country; the government has proceeded with friendly foreign policy with the states in order to bring funds into the state. The foreign policy of Malaysia is not much changed as there is no changing in the leader; the policy of Malaysia has reconciled relations with main city of Indian and Chinese residing in the country in order to bring investments into the country and to relieve tensions in the country. The foreign policy of the Philippines has proceeded with policy under the ASEAN framework and emphasized on international Islam communities. The foreign policy of Singapore has the least changed as the Singapore's policy focuses on internal trade since the state was found. As for the foreign policy of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei has a little role in the international stage; the state having closest relationship as from the view of history is Singapore as the Singaporean has invested in retailing business in Brunei. The foreign policy of Vietnam has emphasized on an omnidirectional foreign policy in order to compete with several states in global stage. The foreign policy of Myanmar has proceeded with a friendly foreign policy with all ASEAN member states, the East-west Corridor transportation line from Myanmar through Thailand and Lao to Vietnam has been developed. As for the foreign policy of Lao, In 2001, the Thai government and Lao government held a discussion which Thailand reaffirmed the position not to support the anti-Lao group. The foreign policy of Cambodia has proceeded with more openness, having good relation with China, Russia and USA as these states has invested in the state, especially the US company.

Keywords: globalization, public policy analysis, foreign policy, ASEAN member states

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Authors: Koninika Mukherjee, Dilwar Hussain

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Introduction: One of the most prevalent psychopathologies among the youth is social anxiety. The presence of comorbid disorders further complicates diagnosis and treatment. One of the most commonly co-occurring disorders, along with social anxiety, is related to eating behavior. Objective: Identifying the risk and protective factors and the mechanism through which the effect of these disorders might help in treatment and prevention. So, the stated objective of the present study is to investigate the role of fear of negative evaluation and social appearance anxiety in the relationship of parental bonding with social anxiety and comorbid disordered eating. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 411 Indian undergraduates. Data collection was done with the help of self-report measures like the social interaction anxiety scale, parental bonding instrument, brief fear of negative evaluation, social appearance anxiety scale, and the eating attitudes test. SPSS Amos 22.0 version was used for path analyses. Results: Out of the different dimensions of parental bonding, only maternal care and the father’s granting of behavioural freedom proved significant in the development and maintenance of social anxiety and disordered eating behaviour and symptoms. Fear of negative evaluation and social appearance anxiety mediated the impact of the mother’s care on social anxiety and comorbid disordered eating. However, only fear of negative evaluation seemed to mediate the effect of paternal granting of behavioral freedom on social anxiety and comorbid issues. Implications: One of the vital contributions of this study is looking at perceived maternal and paternal bonding separately in the path model. Identifying parenting dimensions significantly related to social anxiety and comorbid disorders can aid in establishing consensus around operational definitions and in the formulation of comprehensive assessments. Future Directions: Future research can include both participant and parental perceptions of parental bonding.

Keywords: social anxiety, disordered eating, fear of negative evaluation, social appearance anxiety

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Authors: Uzma Imtiaz

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Ecological feminism adheres to the basic philosophy that patriarchy is the wellspring of natural and gender domination. It explores the relationship between women and nature in a patriarchal society. Eco-feminism argues that women and nature have an intrinsic association and exploitation of women is the exploitation of nature itself. It further views the world as a holistic institution that offers equal opportunities for men and women. Eco-feminism rejects male domination in a patriarchal society where men and women do not get equal rights to survival. Furthermore, it investigates modern capitalist practices that exert unjust male dominance over nature and women. Cultural eco-feminist theorists argue that industrialization and modern science are male-centered and exhibit male chauvinistic views in attempts to control females’ ability to reproduce. This research intends to analyze an eco-feminist novel by Laila Halaby from the eco-feminism theoretical framework of Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva. The feminist dystopian novel throws light on the double-faced processes of capitalism and housewifization that destroy the autonomy of women over their bodies and life. Moreover, this study aims to highlight the unjust capitalistic processes and policies that turn other countries and women into colonies to exploit them by white men in the name of progress and civilization. The novel brings the patriarchal ways of dominance over women into question. This research paper concludes that women and men should get equal opportunities to survive in society, and women should have given rights over their bodies to decide their future. The research is qualitative in nature, so the method of close reading is selected to analyze the hypodermic effect of patriarchy in society. This study is valuable in highlighting the exploitative ways of men to subjugate women and nature and helps to give awareness to women against gender exploitation in society.

Keywords: housewifization, exploitation, capitalist patriarchy, female victimization

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Authors: N. M. Sani, E. D. Jatau, O. S. Olonitola, M. Y. Gwarzo, P. Moodley, N. S. Mujahid

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Haemoglobin (HB) indicates anaemia level and by extension may reflect the nutritional level and perhaps the immunity of an individual. Some antiretroviral drugs like zidovudine are known to cause anaemia in People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). A cross-sectional study using demographic data and blood specimen from 218 female commercial sex workers attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinics was conducted between December 2009 and July 2011 to assess the effect of zidovudine on haematologic and RNA viral load of female sex workers receiving antiretroviral treatment in north-western Nigeria. Anaemia is a common and serious complication of both HIV infection and its treatment. In the setting of HIV infection, anaemia has been associated with decreased quality of life, functional status, and survival. Antiretroviral therapy, particularly the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), has been associated with a decrease in the incidence and severity of anaemia in HIV-infected patients who have received a HAART regimen for at least 1 year. In this study, result has shown that out of 218 patients, 26 with haemoglobin count between 5.1–10 g/dl were observed to have the highest viral load count of 300,000–350,000 copies/ml. It was also observed that most patients (190) with HB of 10.1–15.0 g/dl had viral load count of 200,000–250,000 copies/ml. An inverse relationship therefore exists, i.e. the lower the haemoglobin level, the higher the viral load count, even though the test statistics did not show any significance between the two (P=0.206). This shows that multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that anaemia was associated with a CD4+ cell count below 50/µL in female sex workers with a viral load above 100,000 copies/mL who use zidovudine. Severe anaemia was less prevalent in this study population than in historical comparators; however, mild to moderate anaemia rates remain high. The study, therefore, recommends that hematological and virologic parameters be monitored closely in patients receiving first line ART regimen.

Keywords: anaemia, female sex worker, haemoglobin, Zidovudine

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Authors: Bo-Jian Wu, Si-Heng Wu

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Objectives: Frailty is a condition of a person who has chronic health problems complicated by a loss of physiological reserve and deteriorating functional abilities. The frailty syndrome was defined by Fried and colleagues, i.e., weight loss, fatigue, decreased grip strength, slow gait speed, and low physical activity. However, to our best knowledge, there have been rare studies exploring the prevalence of frailty and its association with falls in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: A total of 559 hospitalized patients were recruited from a public psychiatric hospital in 2013. The majority of the subjects were males (361, 64.6%). The average age was 53.5 years. All patients received the assessment of frailty status defined by Fried and colleagues. The status of a fall within one year after the assessment of frailty, clinical and demographic data was collected from medical records. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio of associated factors. Results : A total of 9.2% of the participants met the criteria of frailty. The percentage of patients having a fall was 7.2%. Age were significantly associated with frailty (odds ratio = 1.057, 95% confidence interval = 1.025-1.091); however, sex was not associated with frailty (p = 0.17). After adjustment for age and sex, frailty status was associated with a fall (odds ratio = 3.62, 95% confidence interval = 1.58-8.28). Concerning the components of frailty, decreased grip strength (odds ratio = 2.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-5.14), slow gait speed (odds ratio = 2.82, 95% confidence interval = 1.21-6.53), and low physical activity (odds ratio = 2.64, 95% confidence interval = 1.21-5.78) were found to be associated with a fall. Conclusions: Our findings suggest the prevalence of frailty was about 10% in hospitalized patients with chronic patients with schizophrenia, and frailty status was significant with a fall in this group. By using the status of frailty, it may be beneficial to potential target candidates having fallen in the future as early as possible. The effective intervention of prevention of further falls may be given in advance. Our results bridge this gap and open a potential avenue for the prevention of falls in patients with schizophrenia. Frailty is certainly an important factor for maintaining wellbeing among these patients.

Keywords: fall, frailty, schizophrenia, Taiwan

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Authors: Rita Lopa, Yukihiro Shimatani

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The focus of this research is 880m extension development along the Kamisaigo River. The river is flowing tributary of grade 2 rivers Fukutsu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. This river is a small-scale urban river and the river was formerly a straight concrete sea wall construction. The river runs through National Highway No. 3 from the confluence of Saigo River. The study covers the river basin about 326 ha with a catchment area of 20.63 ha and 4,700 m3 capacity regulating pond. The river is not wide, shallow, and has a straight alignment with active (un-vegetated) river channel sinuosity (ratio of river length to valley length) ranging between 1 and 1.3. However, the alignment of the low-flow river channel does have meandering or sinuous characteristics. Flooding is likely to occur. It has become difficult to live in the environment for organisms of the river. Hydrophilic is very low (children cannot play). There is little connection with the local community. Overall, the Kamisaigo River watershed is heavily urbanized and from a morphological, biological and habitat perspective, Kamisaigo River functions marginally not well. For river improvement and maintenance of the Kamisaigo River, the workshop was conducted in the form of planning for the proposed model is presented by the Watershed Management Laboratory. This workshop showed the relationship between citizens, City Government, and University of mutual trust has been established, that have been made landscape, environment, usage, etc.: retaining wall maintenance, hydrophilic zone, landscape zone, nature walks zone: adjacent medical facilities and adjacent to large commercial facilities. Propose of Nature walks zone with point of the design: provide slope that the wheelchair can access and walking paths to enjoy the scenery, and summary of the Kamisaigo River workshop: creating a multi-model study and creation of natural rivers.

Keywords: river restoration, river improvement, natural rivers, Saigo River

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Authors: Fatemeh Abbasi, Sahand Daneshvar

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Productivity is one of the essential goals of companies to improve performance, which as a strategy-oriented method, determines the basis of the company's economic growth. The history of productivity goes back centuries, but most researchers defined productivity as the relationship between a product and the factors used in production in the early twentieth century. Productivity as the optimal use of available resources means that "more output using less input" can increase companies' economic growth and prosperity capacity. Also, having a quality life based on economic progress depends on productivity growth in that society. Therefore, productivity is a national priority for any developed country. There are several methods for calculating productivity growth measurements that can be divided into parametric and non-parametric methods. Parametric methods rely on the existence of a function in their hypotheses, while non-parametric methods do not require a function based on empirical evidence. One of the most popular non-parametric methods is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which measures changes in productivity over time. The DEA evaluates the productivity of decision-making units (DMUs) based on mathematical models. This method uses multiple inputs and outputs to compare the productivity of similar DMUs such as banks, government agencies, companies, airports, Etc. Non-parametric methods are themselves divided into the frontier and non frontier approaches. The Malmquist productivity index (MPI) proposed by Caves, Christensen, and Diewert (1982), the Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index (HMPI) proposed by Bjurek (1996), or the Luenberger productivity indicator (LPI) proposed by Chambers (2002) are powerful tools for measuring productivity changes over time. This study will compare the Malmquist, Hicks–Moorsteen, and Luenberger indices theoretically and empirically based on DEA models and review their strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index, Leuenberger productivity indicator, malmquist productivity index

Procedia PDF Downloads 157