Annual Conference Research Articles

Chartered Governance Institute Annual Conference

Chartered Governance Institute Annual Conference

Botho/Ubuntu paradigm as cognitive justice in psychology

The concept of Botho/ Ubuntu emerges as a balancing paradigm poised to drive cognitive justice in psychological discourses. A paradigm is a universally recognized scientific model that represents a worldview of the nature of the world. There are enduring concerns about the privileging of Western European paradigms, ontologies, epistemologies, and axiologies over their African counterparts. In this article, we present the Botho/ Ubuntu paradigm as a strong contender for the promotion, and humanization of epistemologies in psychology. The 59th annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) in Washington, DC in 2015, whose theme was “ Ubuntu! Imagining a Humanist Education Globally,” as well as the World Council of Comparative Education Societies’ (WCCES) recent book, Comparative Education for Global Citizenship, Peace and Shared Living through Ubuntu, are examples through which Ubuntu began to emerge as a paradigm poised to deliver cognitive and epistemic justice in the area such as psychology. We use Critical African Psychology as a lens through which we interrogate cognitive injustice. We conclude by demonstrating that Botho/Ubuntu paradigm might serve as a driver of cognitive justice in psychology and makes inroads into major discourses driven by African scholars.

Abstracts of the Diabetes and Ramadan International Alliance (Virtual) Conference 2024, 12 to 13 January 2024

AbstractThe Diabetes and Ramadan (DAR) International Alliance was created to coordinate the research work and align the expert opinion on the subject worldwide. DAR holds an annual conference for the early presentation of new studies, consensus statements, and clinical practice guidelines. This year’s conference was held virtually to attract a larger audience. The conference was held on the 12th and 13th of January 2024. This article presents the advance abstracts of the conference’s communications. The abstracts are grouped under themes to facilitate reading. In conclusion, diabetes remains the most extensively studied health impact of Ramadan fasting. Continued interest is evolving around the newer therapeutic agents and technologies.

Overcoming the challenges encountered in CAR-T therapy: latest updates from the 2023 ASH annual conference

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) -T cell therapy has entered the breakthrough era, characterized by a blend of therapeutic opportunities and challenges. With the integration of genome-editing technology, CAR-T cells will be empowered to become super warriors in eradicating tumor cells and attacking various tumors, including T-cell malignancies and acute myeloid leukemia. Notably, the optimization of CAR-T cells, including efficacy, safety, and manufacturing speed, coupled with other therapeutic strategies such as radiotherapy, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, small-molecule inhibitors, and bispecific antibodies, could revolutionize the therapeutic landscape of tumors. Consequently, next-generation cellular immunotherapy, including universal CAR-NK cells and synergistic combination approaches, are anticipated to significantly impact cancer treatment in the coming decade. Nevertheless, the failure rates of CAR-T therapy continue to be significant. The challenge lies in determining the optimal combination strategy and identifying reliable and robust biomarkers to effectively select the patients who will derive the greatest benefit from CAR-T therapy. Herein, we highlight recent innovations in CAR-T products, combination strategies and predictive biomarkers of response presented at the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting.

Chartered Governance Institute Annual Conference

Chartered Governance Institute Annual Conference

Coming Up…

The New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies is holding its annual spring conference, “Advancing Opportunities, Improving Lives,” April 9–10 in Somerset, New Jersey. For more information, visit https://web.cvent.com/event/174eb79e‐c916‐4279‐bf59‐7a5f64186863/regProcessStep1:fa8700dc‐6be3‐470c‐a096‐4a77cbb0f1ef.

Examining the effect of gamification mobile app on conference engagement: an integration of S-O-R framework and UGT

PurposeBy integrating stimulus-organism-response theory and uses and gratifications theory, this study explored the salient gamification factors that satisfy the gratifications of conference attendees in the context of an event gamification mobile app and their relationships with conference engagement, continuance intention and word-of-mouth.Design/methodology/approachThe questionnaire was developed in Qualtrics and administered on a gamification application called Goosechase during an annual hospitality conference. The proposed hypotheses were tested using the partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe gratifications of social presence, education and entertainment through a gamification mobile app influences attendees’ engagement during the conference while achievement gratification does not. Positive effects of conference engagement on their continuous intention and WOM have been also validated.Originality/valueBy adopting a unique integrated approach that utilizes UGT and S-O-R framework, while considering conference engagement as work-related engagement, this study offers a fresh perspective on gamification apps and discusses its theoretical and practical implications in depth.

Preface

This book collects papers selected from the 25th Annual Conference & 14th International Conference of the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (CSMNT2023).CSMNT2023 took place in the city of Shenzhen, China, from the 20th to the 23rd of October, 2023, which was hosted by Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology, and organized by Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Peking University ShenZhen Graduate School, Harbin Institute of Technology and Shenzhen Society of Micro-Nano Technology.With the topic “Magical Micro-Nano • Wonderful World”, CSMNT2023 invited scientists in micro-nano technology all over the world to discuss the state-of –the-art and the development of the micro-nano technology. The conference set up a variety of activities such as general report, session report, poster exchanging and technical exhibition. CSMNT2023 focused on new technologies, new achievements, new breakthroughs and new trends in the fields of micro and nano technology and related frontiers. Topics include, but are not limited to: Design, simulation and analysis of micro/nano devices; Micro/nanomaterials; Fabrication technologies and processes; Micro/nano detection and characterization; Micro/nano sensors; Intelligent micro-systems and so on.There are 12 top level MEMS and NANO technology researchers were invited to make plenary presentations. Also 320 invited talks were given in 33 sessions. Thanks to all the staff and CSMNT Secretary for the efforts they have made, and thanks all honored participants. Their contributions in all aspects are indispensable to the conference’s success.Thanks to IOP Publishing for their work on publishing the special volume for the selected papers of the conference. We have good experience for cooperation, and hope that we can continue this cooperation in coming conferences in the future.The 26th Annual Conference of the Chinese Society of Micro/Nano Technology and 15th International Conference of the Chinese Society of Micro/Nano Technology (CSMNT2024) will be held in September 2024, Taiyuan, China.List of Conference organising committee is available in the pdf

Advocacy for Equity Around Evidence-Based Treatments: Overview and Proceedings of the AMERSA 2023 Conference.

This commentary provides an overview of the 2023 Association of Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) annual conference: Advocacy for Equity Around Evidence-Based Treatments, held from November 1 to 4, 2023, in Washington, DC. The conference featured 9 interactive workshops, 106 oral abstract presentations, and 130 posters. From the preconference workshop to plenary sessions, paper, and poster presentations, there was a focus on addressing imbalanced social systems and structures underlying disparities. In the face of increasing drug overdose deaths, diminished access to prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery supports for racial and ethnic minorities, there is a pressing need for advocacy for equity around evidence-based treatments.

Fudan Zhongshan Plastic Surgery Forum.

The Fudan Zhongshan Plastic Surgery Forum along with the National Continuing Education Course is authorized and supported by the Shanghai Medical Association for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the Fudan University. The annual conference this year along with the course focusing on the "Advances and New Techniques in Plastic Surgery" is successfully held at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, on August 26-27, 2023 in Shanghai, China.

Preface

The 2nd Aquatic Science International Conference 2023 Aquatic Science International Conference (ASIC) is an annual international conference organized by Faculty Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Brawijaya University. ASIC stands for International Conference on Sustainable Aquatic Resources. It provides a platform to exchange knowledge regarding development of aquatic sciences through sustainable Aquatic Resources. This year the main theme of the 2nd Aquatic Science International Conference (ASIC) 2023 is “Aquatic Science Roles in Supporting the Sustainable Aquatic Development” with a focus on aquatic sustainable resources. This conference topic is particularly important and necessary to support the sustainable aquatic resources sectors which play an integral role in the transformation of future development. The Aquatic Science is a recent field of study that encompasses economic activities that depend on aquatic sectors. The sub-theme of the 2nd ASIC 2023 consists of 1) Aquatic Biodiversity; 2) Aquatic Biotechnology; 3) Aquatic Ecotoxicology; 4) Aquatic Ecology/Limnology; 5) Aquatic Waste Management; and 7) Aquatic Conservation; 8) Aquatic Ecotourism.The aim of this conference is to present how science and new ideas can provide the best possible solutions to address challenges of aquatic science from sustainable aquatic resources, and evolving challenges which are evolving challenges which are essential for sustainable developmentThe technical program is varied with six (6) keynote speakers and two (2) invited speakers from various country such as Indonesia, Italia, India, Japan, and Malaysia. This program has not only been attended by local researchers and academicians, but also foreign researchers (Poland, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan).Through the 2nd ASIC, all participants would find valuable findings, including the keynote speakers, invited speakers, and technical sessions in developing better world through the contribution of sustainable aquatic resources. Our thanks to go out to the International Scientific Committee of the 2nd ASIC, Keynote Speakers, Invited Speakers, Scientific Reviewers and Local Committee of the 2nd ASIC 2023 and all participants who have assisted to make this conference success. Abd. Aziz Amin, MSc Head Committee of the 2nd ASIC 2023List of Organizing Committee is available in the pdf

Informal land markets and ethnic kinship in West African cities

We present an urban land use model with land tenure insecurity and information asymmetry regarding risks of contested land ownership, a very common issue in West African cities. A market failure emerges assellers do not internalize the impact of their market participation decision on the average quality of traded plots, which in turn affects other sellers and buyers’ decisions. The equilibrium is suboptimal and has too many transactions of insecure plots and too few transactions of secure plots. This market failure can be addressed when agents trade along trusted kinship lines that discourage undisclosed sales of insecure plots. Such kinship matching is an important feature of West African societies, including on the market for informal land, as illustrated by a unique survey administered in Bamako, Mali. In the model, the extent to which the market failure is addressed increases with the intensity of kinship ties. When sellers also have the possibility of registering their property right in a cadastre, this not only further attenuates information asymmetry but also helps reduce risk. We find complementarity between kinship matching and registration: As transactions along trusted kinship lines tend to involve plots that are more secure on average, kinship matching makes registration better targeted at insecure plots traded outside kinship ties.In this context, a partial registration fee subsidy can bring the economy to the social optimum.11We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous referees for comments that helped us substantively improve the paper as well as to Amadou Cissé for the many discussions about social structures in West Africa that initially motivated this paper, to Demba Karagnara who coordinated field surveys in Bamako in 2012 and 2022, and to Pierre M. Picard, Jan Brueckner and Tony Yezer for suggestions and technical comments on the model. We are also grateful to Eliana la Ferrara and Karen Macours for useful insights on kinship and land markets in developing countries, as well as to Thierry Verdier, Miren Lafourcade and the participants to the Labor and Public Economics Seminar at the Paris School of Economics, to the International Conference of Development Economics and to the Annual Conference of the Centre for the Study of African Economies for various suggestions. We gratefully acknowledge the funding of the World Bank and of the Paris School of Economics Mobility Grant, a public grant overseen by the French National Research Agency (ANR-18-CE22-0013-01), the Labex OSE and the Labor and Public Economics Group at the Paris School of Economics.

521 Bringing UCSF Research Resources to Community Health Systems: CTSI Research Infrastructure Network (RIN)

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The CTSI Research Infrastructure Network (RIN) expands CTSI’s reach into the regional health systems to provide our services to a broad and diverse translational science community. We create and support research collaborations that span multiple geographies and patient populations and serve as a bridge between the affiliate sites and CTSI programs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We conducted needs assessments at each site (n=6) via in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Informants (n=40) included investigators, study personnel, and research administrators. Investigators were selected across a variety of departments and career stages. Interview transcripts and notes were analyzed using matrix-based qualitative methods to identify both the common and unique research infrastructure needs of each site. Individualized support plans were shared with each site and a comprehensive summary report was presented to CTSI leadership. RIN met with UCSF’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, which conducts clinical trials at 2 sites, to coordinator our effort and services. When possible, RIN addressed service requests in real time that arose during interviews. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We identified heterogeneous needs across multiple sites. However, among the community health systems with non-academic clinicians, there were common needs for research training, consultations in biostatistics/study design, and finding academic collaborators. The needs of sites with UCSF academic faculty differed from those of community sites and mainly included improved awareness and access to CTSI programs, ease of use of data extraction services, training programs, and assistance with regulatory approvals. Site needs are best addressed with individual plans created with CTSI Program leaders. A developing governance structure will include representation on a CTSI advisory committee and an annual conference to facilitate the sharing of best practices and foster collaboration across member sites. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Providing an individualized, site-specific approach to expanding CTSI services to regional health systems, will increase research collaborations across Northern California through building relationships, addressing unique infrastructure needs and sharing best practices throughout the network.

Implementing Lifestyle Medicine Competencies in Didactic and Clinical Settings for Allied Health Professionals: A Call to Action

In this article, we discuss and reflect on the essential components of our concurrent session presentation at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) annual conference LM2023, “Implementing Lifestyle Medicine Competencies in Didactic and Clinical Settings for Allied Health Professionals.” We illustrate the necessity of interdisciplinary lifestyle medicine approaches through a conscious fusion of analysis and storytelling. This review concludes with a call to action empowering the medical community to embrace interdisciplinary lifestyle medicine approaches in effort to increase access to equitable healthcare.

Visiting with Elders—Aging, Caregiving, and Planning for Future Generations of American Indians and Alaska Natives

(1) Background: To address the importance of engaging American Indian and Alaska Native Elders in a dialogue about healthy aging and fill the gap in the scholarly literature on this topic. (2) Methods: This study conducted a listening session with Elders who attended the 2021 National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA) Annual Conference in Reno, Nevada. The listening session was audio-recorded and transcribed for thematic analysis by two analysts. (3) Results: Important insights regarding American Indian and Alaska Native Elders’ perspectives on planning for future care and aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. (4) Conclusions: This study is one of the first to engage American Indian and Alaska Native Elders in a conversation about health aging. Calls for intergenerational solidarity, protection of Elders, education, and relationality were found to be important themes.

Wearing Sports Mouthguards to Prevent Oral and Maxillofacial Trauma.

The theme of the academic annual conferences held by the Chinese Stomatological Association from 2021 to 2023 was "Protecting Natural Teeth to Maintain Oral Health" and coincided with the 24th Winter Olympic Games that took place in Beijing in 2022, and thus prevention of oral and maxillofacial trauma once again attracted the attention of stomatological experts and the public. The incidence of oral and maxillofacial trauma caused by sports is around 25% to 34%1-5, and varies based on the type of sport and other factors, such as age, sex and the skill level of the participants. The risk of oral and maxillofacial trauma is extremely high in high-confrontation and high-speed sports, especially for children and adolescents. Wearing sports mouthguards when participating in sport is an effective way to prevent and reduce the incidence of oral and maxillofacial trauma in such sports, and is the simplest and most practical method of doing so. Sports have developed and gained in popularity significantly in China in recent years, but the awareness and use of sports mouthguards are low. Based on the above background, the Chinese Stomatological Association advocates that athletes and sport participants should wear mouthguards in various confrontational and high-speed sports, and calls on dental practitioners and sports-related organisations to actively support the popularisation and application of sports mouthguards to prevent or alleviate oral and maxillofacial trauma and to raise awareness and increase knowledge of methods to protect natural teeth.

The Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland (AoPGBI) annual conference at Newcastle University: 23-24 May 2024. Celebrating the latest and very best of translational medicine.

The Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland (AoPGBI) annual conference at Newcastle University: 23-24 May 2024. Celebrating the latest and very best of translational medicine.

Selections From the ABC 2023 Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado USA: Mining Nuggets of Business Communication Pedagogy Gold

This My Favorite Assignment (MFA) article features 11 teaching innovations first presented at the 2023 Association for Business Communication Annual International Conference held Denver, Colorado, USA. These assignments are designed to boost students’ writing, persuasion, crisis management skills, and personal and professional development.

Ubiquity of Legal Pluralism and its Consequences

This article is a lightly edited version of the keynote address delivered at the 2023 ICON•S Annual Conference, held at Victoria University of Wellington—Te Herenga Waka, on 5 July 2023. I provide an overview of legal pluralism and its implications, addressing why legal pluralism heretofore has been overlooked by jurists, the historical roots of legal pluralism, how to identify what qualifies as law, internal and external legal pluralism, three categories of law that help frame legal pluralism, why customary law is difficult to incorporate within state law, the implications of legal pluralism for legal development and human rights, and much more.

Abstract 1027: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess tumor cell-associated OX40 expression in lymphoma PDXs

Abstract Background. Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 4, or OX40, is an immunostimulatory receptor usually expressed in activated T-cells. The OX40-OX40L (ligand of OX40) interaction plays a crucial role in the enhancement of T-cell proliferation, survival, and cytokine production, including those in tumor microenvironment (TME) leading to increased anti-tumor immunity1. OX40 agonist antibodies have been widely tested for immunotherapy for solid tumors2,3. Interestingly, in the treatment of lymphoma, the situation may become more complicate, where OX40 could also be found to be expressed on lymphoma cells, in addition to TME. This phenomenon might or might not impact OX40 agonist therapy. This report aims at developing an immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay to assess tumor-associated OX40 by utilizing morphology approach to understand OX40 expression in lymphoma cells, as opposed on tumor-infiltrate T-lymphocytes (TILs) present in TME. FFPE samples from patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), recapitulating the main pathological features of the original tumors, but exclusive of human TILs, were used as the first stage of the assay development, avoiding TIL interference prior to human sample testing. Methods. Ninety leukemia and lymphoma PDXs are comprehensively annotated, including RNAseq and histopathology (HuBaseTM: https://hubase.crownbio.com). IHC staining of PDX FFPE slides or TMA (tissue microarray) of various cancers was performed using a commercial OX40 antibody (CST, #61637) and Bond RX Automated IHC/ISH Staining System (Leica Biosystems), followed by whole slide imaging by NanoZoomer NDP2.0-HT Digital Slide System (Hamamatsu) and quantitative analysis by HALOTM image analysis software (Indica labs). OX40 IHC scores were also compared to the RNA expression determined by RNAseq. Results. A total of 90 leukemia and lymphoma PDXs were comprehensively evaluated. RNASeq data (human mRNA) indeed revealed OX40 gene expression (cutoff as Log2 (FPKM)>3) in 8.9% of models (8/90 models); on the other hand, IHC data also confirmed these OX40 protein expression; and the IHC scores largely correlated with the RNA data. Together, our data firmly confirmed the expression of OX40 in certain hematological cancers, beyond just in TME. The ongoing studies is investigating the characteristics of the OX40 positive lymphoma/leukemia, and the preliminary data will be presented in the annual conference. Furthermore, we are also using the same assay to explore other cancer types beyond hematological cancers. Conclusion. A tumor associated OX40 expression IHC workflow was preliminarily established and validated to facility the OX40 immunotherapy development. Citation Format: Jie Lin, Xiaolong Tu, Likun Zhang, Hongjiang Yu, Cheng JIang, Tao Yang, Henry Qixiang Li. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess tumor cell-associated OX40 expression in lymphoma PDXs [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 1027.