Universal Aspects Research Articles

A Rejoinder to: ‘Questioning the Appropriateness of ExaminingGuanxiin aWastaEnvironment: Why Context Should Be Front and Center in Informal Network Research – A Commentary on “De-Linking from Western Epistemologies: UsingGuanxi-Type Relationships to Attract and Retain Hotel Guests in the Middle East”’

This rejoinder responds to a commentary (Horak et al., 2023) on our article ‘De-Linking from Western Epistemologies: UsingGuanxi-Type Relationships to Attract and Retain Hotel Guests in the Middle East' (2022). We thank the authors for engaging with our work and are grateful to the editor for the chance to respond. Firstly, we do not accept the central assertion that we imposed the Chinese concept ofguanxion a Middle Eastern context. Some aspects ofguanxiextend beyond China, and we consider it part of our role as researchers to explore universal behavioral aspects that transcend specific cultural settings. While we describedguanxito introduce the variables, we drew a clear distinction betweenguanxiitself andguanxi-type relationships, and provided on page 859 an explicit statement about what we meant by the term ‘guanxi-type relationships’, i.e. the networks of interpersonal ties found in the Middle East. While this distinction could have been more clearly emphasized in places, we consider that the article as a whole made it abundantly clear.

Unveiling the Shadows: Pitfalls in Medical Practice and Their Remedies: A Revie

In the realm of human experience, no individual can assert with absolute certainty that they have traversed their journey without stumbling upon the terrain of error. Such missteps are a universal aspect of our existence. Yet, it is the discerning mind that acknowledges these misjudgments, endeavors towards self-refinement, and endeavors to eschew their recurrence.

Образы природы в лирике Бадрутдина Магомедова

The study aims to identify the features of images of nature in B. Magomedov’s poetry. Based on the material of lyrical texts included in the poetry collections “Joy” (Сююнчю), “My Happiness” (Ирисим), “Letter to My Father” (Атама кагъыз), “Honey Troughs” (Балчаралар), “Tears of the Night” (Гечени гёзьяшлары), “Dinner Prayer” (Тюш намаз), “Good Tidings”, the artistic functions of the images of nature representing the philosophical worldview and mentality of the writer, as well as characterising the persona in a certain way are revealed. The paper focuses on the artistic originality, figurative structure and poetics of the works. The scientific novelty of the paper consists in identifying the unique images of native nature in the analysed lyrical texts by Badrutdin Magomedov, in determining the relationship between man and the surrounding world, which reflects the pronounced national identity and originality of the writer. The specified topic is being investigated for the first time from this perspective. As a result, it has been proved that images of nature occupy an essential place in the poetry of Badrutdin Magomedov and reflect not only the inner world of the persona, but also all kinds of aspects of the human universe. Images of nature are anthropomorphic, contain a certain symbolism and also carry a deep philosophical meaning. The analysed lyrical texts made it possible to determine the writer’s attitude to his native nature, to human life in the mortal world. The landscapes presented in B. Magomedov’s poetic heritage attract attention by conciseness, abundance of motifs, combination of the philosophical aspect.

Universal aspects of holographic quantum critical transport with self-duality

Universal aspects of holographic quantum critical transport with self-duality

An integrative framework of family processes to predict East Asian American youth’s mental health problems

ABSTRACT No existing conceptual framework can describe the family precursors and dynamics that explain East Asian American (EAA) youth’s mental health problems in their cultural context. To address this conceptual gap and better elucidate EAA youth’s mental health issues, we present a conceptual framework that combines two existing theories: the triadic model of family process and acculturation gap-distress theory. We selected these two theories because they address youth mental health problems as a common outcome explained by family domains and complement each other by addressing certain processes in more depth. Using a cultural lens that allows researchers to reconstruct assumptions of theory in specific cultural contexts, the presented integrative framework of family processes identifies how universal and East Asian-specific aspects of familial factors influence the mental health problems of EAA youth. This framework is intended to guide future research efforts on EAA youth development and provide preliminary guidelines for social workers working with EAA families to provide culturally responsive care and services.

THE PRESENCE OF ETERNITY IN TIME ACCORDING TO THE THEOLOGY OF ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA AND DANTE ALIGHIERI

wledge, including philosophy, theology and literature. The concept of time has deep roots in human history and is related to many complex questions, such as the nature of time, its relation to eternity and human existence. In this context, comparing the concepts of time of different authors can help to understand the diversity of views on this phenomenon and its significance in culture and history.This article examines the concepts of time and eternity in the works of two outstanding authors - Origen and Dante. Both of these authors have a significant impact on the culture and spiritual heritage of the world, and their views on time and eternity attract the attention of researchers from various fields. The purpose of the article is an attempt to compare and analyze the concepts of time and eternity in the works of Origen and Dante in order to better understand their views and their influence on culture and spiritual tradition.Through the analysis and comparison of the two authors’ theological-philosophical concept of eternity, we also identify the way of participation in eternity through which man opens the way to his eternal permanence.The study of time and eternity is of constant relevance because it addresses fundamental questions about the nature of existence, the meaning of life, and the ultimate destiny of humanity. By studying the thoughts of Origen, an early Christian theologian, and Dante Alighieri, a medieval poet, we gain a deeper understanding of the evolution of these concepts and their significance in different intellectual and cultural contexts. This comparative analysis sheds light on timeless and universal aspects of time and eternity that transcend historical and cultural boundaries.

The Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE): Evidence of validity in the United States and India.

Researchers increasingly recognize that the mind and culture interact at many levels to constitute our lived experience, yet we know relatively little about the extent to which culture shapes the way people appraise their experiences and the likelihood that a given experience will be reported. Experiences that involve claims regarding deities, extraordinary abilities, and/or psychopathology offer an important site for investigating the interplay of mind and culture at the population level. However, the difficulties inherent in comparing culture-laden experiences, exacerbated by the siloing of research on experiences based on discipline-specific theoretical constructs, have limited our ability to do so. We introduce the Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE), which allows researchers to compare experiences by separating the phenomenological features from how they are appraised and asking about both. It thereby offers a new means of investigating the potentially universal (etic) and culture-specific (emic) aspects of lived experiences. To ensure that the INOE survey items are understood as intended by English speakers in the US and Hindi speakers in India, and thus can serve as a basis for cross-cultural comparison, we used the Response Process Evaluation (RPE) method to collect evidence of item-level validity. Our inability to validate some items drawn from other surveys suggests that they are capturing a wider range of experiences than researchers intend. Wider use of the RPE method would increase the likelihood that survey results are due to the differences that researchers intend to measure.

A developmental study of eye movements in Hebrew word reading: the effects of word familiarity, word length, and reading proficiency.

Previous studies examining the link between visual word recognition and eye movements have shown that eye movements reflect the time-course of cognitive processes involved in reading. Whereas most studies have been undertaken in Western European languages written in the Roman alphabet, the present developmental study investigates a non-European language-Hebrew, which is written in a non-alphabetic (abjadic) script. We compared the eye-movements of children in Grades 4 to 6 (N = 30) and university students (N = 30) reading familiar real words and unfamiliar (pseudo)words of 3 letters and 5 letters in length. Using linear mixed models, we focused on the effects of word familiarity, word length, and age group. Our results highlight both universal aspects of word reading (developmental and familiarity (lexicality) effects) as well as language-specific word length effect which appears to be related to the unique morphological and orthographic features of the Semitic abjad.

Post-Structuralism of Hadith

The dynamics of the struggle of contemporary hadith understanding methodology is one of the interesting phenomena to be studied as the conditions of culture and human civilization accelerate. The search for absolute meaning is impossible. By Deconstruction the rules that envelop Logocentrism can be revealed. Using a deconstruction approach, we can uncover how logocentrism affects the way we understand and interpret hadith, and criticize how such logocentrism might limit our understanding of hadith. The research method is qualitative with a descriptive approach to deco-construction analysis. The results of this study show that it is this kind of Model of Reason that makes hadith reasoning dogmatic, Qathi’, closing itself off from interdisciplinary science and repeatedly failing to hack into the problems of the times. It is also on this basis that the development of the hadith understanding model has stagnated and the methodology is poor. That way, hadith reasoning is easily monopolized by certain madhabs that are full of interests. The crystallization of reason is incapable of dialoguing hadith with reality. It therefore took the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida to dismantle the discourse of logocentrism of hadith reasoning. This deconstruction of hadith reasoning is carried out to see and distinguish universal aspects of Islam and aspects of Islam that are local and temporal, so as not to narrow reason to project hadith as instructions that apply throughout the ages.

Psychology of Mastering Intercultural Competence of Future Translators

The purpose of our research is to show the context of the definition of “in-tercultural competence”; to explain the connection between the structural com-ponents of intercultural competence and necessary skills and abilities of future translators with the purpose to do effective translational activity; to determine Psychology of mastering intercultural competence of future translators.methods of the research. The following theoretical methods of the research were used to solve the tasks formulated in the article: a categorical method, structural and functional methods, the methods of the analysis, systematization, modeling, generalization. The ascertaining research was used as an empirical method. the results of the research. We proved, that in the process of oral trans-lation a real process of thought generation, the path from meaning to finding meaning (and vice versa – from meaning to meaning) was much more difficult. It is not limited to certain structural models, because in translation, as well as in the process of intercultural communication, the most difficult thing can be the definition of not even individual signs, realities, but the peculiarities of their re-lationships in the minds of representatives of different cultures, in which there is a functional coincidence of the main and secondary characteristics, figures and backgrounds, which, in turn, facilitate the development of intercultural compe-tence.conclusions. The most effective implementation of the intermediary role of the translator can only be perceived by us as a result of his/her consistent appeal to culture ­specific and universal aspects of the phenomena having been studied, which is achieved by consistent movement in the space of comparative cultures in the direction of emic – etic – emic. By this way it is also the process of the development of intercultural competence of students – future translators. Cogni-tive structures, having been formed in the course of such a reflexive movement, must be combined in cognitive models with language signs that correspond to the world image. The dominant role in the process of forming the intercultural competence of students – future translators display to the greatest extent by the thinking scheme of representatives of a certain linguistic and cultural com-munity. These processes testify to the considerable role of the basic components of translation activity: psychological and linguistic elements, verbal methods of performing oral translation.

General intelligence requires rethinking exploration.

We are at the cusp of a transition from 'learning from data' to 'learning what data to learn from' as a central focus of artificial intelligence (AI) research. While the first-order learning problem is not completely solved, large models under unified architectures, such as transformers, have shifted the learning bottleneck from how to effectively train models to how to effectively acquire and use task-relevant data. This problem, which we frame as exploration, is a universal aspect of learning in open-ended domains like the real world. Although the study of exploration in AI is largely limited to the field of reinforcement learning, we argue that exploration is essential to all learning systems, including supervised learning. We propose the problem of generalized exploration to conceptually unify exploration-driven learning between supervised learning and reinforcement learning, allowing us to highlight key similarities across learning settings and open research challenges. Importantly, generalized exploration is a necessary objective for maintaining open-ended learning processes, which in continually learning to discover and solve new problems, provides a promising path to more general intelligence.

Universality in conformations and transverse fluctuations of a semi-flexible polymer in a crowded environment.

We study the universal aspects of polymer conformations and transverse fluctuations for a single swollen chain characterized by a contour length L and a persistence length ℓp in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D) in the bulk, as well as in the presence of excluded volume (EV) particles of different sizes occupying different area/volume fractions. In the absence of the EV particles, we extend the previously established universal scaling relations in 2D [Huang et al., J. Chem. 140, 214902 (2014)] to include 3D and demonstrate that the scaled end-to-end distance ⟨RN2⟩/(2Lℓp) and the scaled transverse fluctuation ⟨l⊥2⟩/L as a function of L/ℓp collapse onto the same master curve, where ⟨RN2⟩ and ⟨l⊥2⟩ are the mean-square end-to-end distance and transverse fluctuations. However, unlike in 2D, where the Gaussian regime is absent due to the extreme dominance of the EV interaction, we find that the Gaussian regime is present, albeit very narrow in 3D. The scaled transverse fluctuation in the limit L/ℓp ≪ 1 is independent of the physical dimension and scales as ⟨l⊥2⟩/L∼(L/ℓp)ζ-1, where ζ = 1.5 is the roughening exponent. For L/ℓp ≫ 1, the scaled fluctuation scales as ⟨l⊥2⟩/L∼(L/ℓp)ν-1, where ν is the Flory exponent for the corresponding spatial dimension (ν2D = 0.75 and ν3D = 0.58). When EV particles of different sizes for different area or volume fractions are added into 2D and 3D systems, our results indicate that the crowding density either does not or does only weakly affect the universal scaling relations. We discuss the implications of these results in living matter by showing the experimental result for a dsDNA on the master plot.

Adapting global methodologies to digital inequalities research in a multicultural Arab environment

As Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), such as the internet and mobile phones, facilitate the spread of knowledge and interactions across borders in previously unimagined ways, questions are being asked about whether the benefits of this digitization process are equally distributed between and within countries. Motivated by the way technology adoption and usage patterns may differ in the Arab Middle East, this paper examines how the Kuwaiti context shapes people’s understanding of a survey instrument used for evaluating digital inequalities, as they relate to access, skills and engagement, and outcomes of ICT use. Specifically, it discusses the adaptation and validation of the survey measures of socio-digital inequalities through a process of cognitive interviewing and provides insight into the theoretical and empirical linkages between cultural conceptions of digital and traditional inequalities in ways that explore both their universal and contextual aspects, or denotative and connotative meanings. Evidence suggests that important cross-cultural complications relate to language issues, socio-economic conditions, citizenship, and differing perceptions of social desirability. These findings offer important considerations for improving the reliability and validity of future survey-scale adaptations in the broader MENA region, especially in countries containing significant multicultural populations. Simultaneously, they call into question the extent to which global conceptualizations of digital inequalities and their measures reflect complex local realities.

Globular Proteins and Where to Find Them within a Polymer Brush-A Case Study.

Protein adsorption by polymerized surfaces is an interdisciplinary topic that has been approached in many ways, leading to a plethora of theoretical, numerical and experimental insight. There is a wide variety of models trying to accurately capture the essence of adsorption and its effect on the conformations of proteins and polymers. However, atomistic simulations are case-specific and computationally demanding. Here, we explore universal aspects of the dynamics of protein adsorption through a coarse-grained (CG) model, that allows us to explore the effects of various design parameters. To this end, we adopt the hydrophobic-polar (HP) model for proteins, place them uniformly at the upper bound of a CG polymer brush whose multibead-spring chains are tethered to a solid implicit wall. We find that the most crucial factor affecting the adsorption efficiency appears to be the polymer grafting density, while the size of the protein and its hydrophobicity ratio come also into play. We discuss the roles of ligands and attractive tethering surfaces to the primary adsorption as well as secondary and ternary adsorption in the presence of attractive (towards the hydrophilic part of the protein) beads along varying spots of the backbone of the polymer chains. The percentage and rate of adsorption, density profiles and the shapes of the proteins, alongside with the respective potential of mean force are recorded to compare the various scenarios during protein adsorption.

HOW CULTURE MADE US UNIQUELY HUMAN

AbstractThis article argues that understanding human uniqueness requires recognizing that we are a cultural species whose evolution has been driven by the interaction among genes and culture for over a million years. Here, I review the basic argument, incorporate recent findings, and highlight ongoing efforts to apply this approach to more deeply understand both the universal aspects of our cognition as well as the variation across societies. This article will cover (1) the origins and evolution of our capacities for culture, (2) examples of specialized mental abilities such as those related to mechanical causality, prestige, and cooperation, and (3) recent efforts to apprehend our capacities for abstraction. I close by discussing common canards that generate confusion in mapping what makes us human.

Defining and Operationalizing Key Themes of High-quality Psychosocial Support Using the Concept Mapping Method:

Introduction:International psychosocial support guidelines reflect consensus on support principles and interventions. However, no consensus exists on what recipients consider important elements of service delivery. Within two contexts – after a potentially traumatic event (PTE) and people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)–the aims were to contribute to (1) understanding which psychosocial support aspects are considered important by recipients and relevant stakeholders; (2) developing instruments to test and integrate those aspects in practice, in order to evaluate the quality of psychosocial support from the recipient’s perspective.Method:Concept mapping was used to achieve consensus on key themes of psychosocial support. These were operationalized in surveys and pilot-tested, conforming to the Consumer Quality Index. This determines the importance and needs for improvement.Results:Concept mapping resulted in eight key themes within the PTE context and six in the SMA context. PTE survey (N= 132) results showed key themes “an approach that starts from the needs and capacities of the affected one” and “monitoring individuals affected and initiating follow-up where needed” were most important. Key theme “providing information on common emotional reactions” received the highest score of perceived need for improvement. SMA survey (N= 57) results showed key themes “an approach that incorporates all aspects of a human being” and “a respectful approach and awareness of personal boundaries” as most important. The perceived need for improvement of the key theme “availability and accessibility of quality information” was ranked the highest.Conclusion:The similarities between both contexts support the notion that there are universal aspects of psychosocial support. Simultaneously, the context-specific idiosyncrasies found underscore the necessity to adapt to context. The surveys have the potential to contribute to a growing toolbox of quality evaluation instruments.

Accessibility strategies to promote inclusive mobility through multi-objective approach

In recent decades, urban mobility has assumed a need for adaptation due to the more significant congestion experienced in cities and the growing focus on sustainability. Several solutions are proposed to help citizens move around in an urban environment. Most are not yet aware of the universal and accessible aspect that these solutions must have. This paper proposes a route support system embedded in a mobile application, Viana+Acessível, using a multi-objective approach. The application aims to promote accessible mobility within the city, contributing to physical and psychological well-being for citizens with reduced mobility, temporary or permanently, such as people with spectrum autism disorder, the visually impaired, wheelchair users, pregnant, and the elderly. For the evaluation of the algorithms, four objective measures were considered: accessibility, slope, time, and length of the paths. The tests carried out with different routing algorithms showed that the A-Star presented the fastest results in terms of execution time compared to the Dijkstra, Floyd–Warshall, and Bellman–Ford. When analysing in a multi-objective approach, time, slope and accessibility were demonstrated to be conflicting objectives. Bi-objective and tri-objective were applied and Pareto front was explored.Graphical abstract

Revisiting “bursts” in wall-bounded turbulent flows

In this paper, we demonstrate that the problem of turbulent bursts can be tackled through a complex systems approach. Specifically, by considering both duration and intensity of the bursting events, one can incorporate the effect of bursts on the turbulence statistics at any specified scale of the flow, thereby allowing one to connect the origin of bursts to the presence of organized eddy motions in turbulent flows called coherent structures. Through our approach we discover a particular aspect of universality associated with turbulent bursts and contribute toward the development of next-generation turbulence models by creating a union between complex systems science and fluid mechanics.

Prosodic Studies on the Spoken Corpus of the Khalkha Mongolian Language: Age and Gender Effects on F0 and Speech Rate

There are many studies on age- and gender-dependent analyses in multiple languages. Still, the fundamental frequency (F0) and speech rate in different age and gender groups with Khalkha Mongolian have not yet been studied. In this investigation, we analyzed the speaker’s age and gender effects on F0 and speech rate based on a spontaneous speech corpus of the Khalkha dialect of the Mongolian language. We have discovered some universal aspects of these phonological phenomena and specific relevant characteristics of speech rate change depending on gender. The average speech rate of Khalkha Mongolian is 5.3 syllables per second. The male speakers spoke much quicker than the female speakers. Age and gender affect the F0 and speech rate in particular systematic ways. The F0 of the female and male speakers tended to decrease with age. Also, that elderly male speakers talk slower than elderly female speakers, while young and middle-aged male speakers tend to talk faster than female speakers of the same age.

SPATIAL SEMANTIC CONCEPTS IN POETIC DISCOURSE

Space is a universal aspect of human experience in general and poetic experience in particular. The purpose of this paper is to show how poets conceptualize space with a particular reference to the use of spatial preposition in. The main interest is in the interplay of the agent and the environment with respect to spatial orientation. The result of the research is seven semantic mental models. The article has been conceived as a contribution to the field of spatial semantics with the view of in as a form of epistemic marking.