Chief Finding Research Articles

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, queer, and intersex+ inclusion in Asia-Pacific social work education: a scoping review

ABSTRACT The purpose of this scoping literature review was to examine the available evidence on the discussion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) populations in published journal articles on social work education in the Asia-Pacific region. Using a modified PRISMA framework, the research team searched 33 English-language Q1 and Q2 journals (with an impact factor ranging from 0.5 to 2.8) in social work. The initial search yielded 4,468 results related to LGBTQI+ inclusion. Once full-text articles were reviewed, 15 relevant articles remained. Most articles were from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand and several were empirical papers. The chief finding was that the literature focused on preparing students with appropriate affirmative and strengths focused language for effectively intervening with LGBTQI+ communities. We found gaps in LGBTQI+ inclusive education in the literature, particularly in developing regions of the Asia-Pacific. Future research in social work education in the Asia-Pacific should explore opportunities for enhancing LGBTQI+ inclusion within the region.

Management of anterior crossbite using various treatment modalities

Anterior crossbite is the term used to define an occlusal problem involving palatal positioning of the maxillary anterior teeth relative to the mandibular anterior teeth. It has a reported incidence of 4-5% and is usually the result of a palatal malposition of the maxillary incisors resulting from a lingual eruption path. Three male patients reported to the department of pediatric and preventive dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry with the chief finding of anterior cross bite were treated with different fixed and removable treatment modalities. During the early correction of simple and minor malocclusions, which is a part of interceptive orthodontic treatment, the anterior cross-bite is corrected more rapidly & it is achieved by removable appliances or fixed appliances.

Environmental Degradation in the Nepalese Society: An Eco-Critical Approach

The paper aims to explore the direct or indirect link between the patriarchal Nepalese society and the degradation of Nepal’s forestry and environment. The males of Nepal have been dominating and disrespecting women as the inferior sex for centuries, and thereby treating natural resourses as feminine, weak to be manipulated and consumed objectively for their benefits. The research tool taken to carry out the research is eco-feminism. To notice the relationship between gender and natural resources of Nepal, the theoretical concerns of such eco-feminist critics as Greta Gaard and Vandana Shiva are chiefly focused on. The Nepalese society, like most of the South-Asian societies, is a male-dominated society. It exploits both women and nature regarding them to be inferior. The chief finding is that the natural resources of Nepal such as air, water, green fields, climate, land, forestry, minerals, environment, and the species of Nepal have been getting threatened because of the Nepalese patriarchal society. The Nepali people exploit nature as carelessly as they have been exploiting women. It is assumed that the research scholars interested in exploring Nepalese society from the perspective of eco-feminism can take the article as a reference.

Metatheatricality and Self-reflexivity in Subedi’s Plays

This paper seeks to explore meta-theatricality and self-reflexivity in Abhi Subedi’s two plays, A Journey into Thamel and The Caretaker’s Sky, to mark how the playwright reflects the changing social and cultural milieus of Nepal through these dramatic techniques. Through a close reading of Subedi’s A Journey into Thamel and The Caretaker’s Sky from the metatheatrical perspectives propounded by Lionel Abel and Richard Hornby, the research surveys how the playwright connects theatricality and realism in these plays. A Journey into Thamel portrays the hardships of people living in the post-war scenario of Nepalese society. The Caretaker’s Sky deals with the quest for freedom of creativity. But both plays share the common ground in terms of form, as Subedi’s dramaturgy expresses using metadrama as a rhetorical vehicle. In doing so, he uses as many metatheatrical tools as possible in making the plays self-reflective. The chief finding of this research is that Abhi Subedi exploits meta-drama as a rhetorical vehicle and at a time responds to the co-existence of realistic drama, staged theatricality, and anti-theatricalism in these plays so as to portray the Nepalese problems. The research scholars intended to work on Nepali theatre are expected to take the paper as a reference.

Ion-atom-atom three-body recombination: From the cold to the thermal regime.

We present a study on ion-atom-atom reaction A + A + B+ in a wide range of systems and collision energies ranging from 100 μK to 105 K, analyzing two possible products: molecules and molecular ions. The dynamics is performed via a direct three-body formalism based on a classical trajectory method in hyperspherical coordinates developed in Pérez-Ríos et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 044307 (2014)]. Our chief finding is that the dissociation energy of the molecular ion product acts as a threshold energy, separating the low- and high-energy regimes. In the low-energy regime, the long-range tail of the three-body potential dictates the fate of the reaction and the main reaction product. On the contrary, in the high-energy regime, the short-range of atom-atom and atom-ion interaction potential dominate the dynamics, enhancing molecular formation.

Exploitation of Minority Community in Nasrin’s Lajja: Marxist Perspective

This paper seeks to examine the terrific effects of the economic exploitation and domination of the plebeian Hindu communities by the majority of aristocratic Muslim communities in Bangladesh in Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja. The genesis of the novel lies in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India by Hindu extremists on December 1, 1992, and its effects in Bangladesh thereafter. The destruction of the temples, burning down of shops and houses, and rape of the proletariat Hindu women clearly signify the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. The research tool used to survey the issue is the Marxist theoretical perspectives elaborated by Lois Tyson and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This conflict is similar to the scenario of Marxism, which deals with the conflict between the oppressed class and the oppressor. The Hindu minority community can be compared to the exploited class and the Muslim fundamentalists as the exploiters. The chief finding of the research is that the lower class Hindu women were raped, and the proletariat Hindu males were beaten; their property was destroyed or looted by the so-called Muslim capitalists, taking advantage of the weakness of the plebeians. Nasrin has portrayed the harassment, discrimination, and persecution of lower-class Hindu people by the bourgeois Muslims in Bangladesh. It is expected that readers opting to approach Nasrin from the Marxist perspective can take the paper as a reference.

Reification of Bourgeois Ideology in Bhattarai’s Muglan

This paper aims to explore how innocent Nepali youths reify the elitist bourgeois ideology of the Nepalese society that forces them to go to Muglan, a term, denoting foreign country for Nepali people, and confront unexpected blows there in Govinda Raj Bhattarai’s novel, Muglan. Reification signifies the ideology and perception of people residing in a capitalist society. The study of the impact of reification demonstrates the reality of a society. Bhattarai is critical to the way Sutar Kanchha, the protagonist of the novel, obsessed with the dominant capitalist ideology, goes to Bhutan to earn. But he gets robbed there and he is forced to do tough physical labor like an animal. To survey terrific effects of the dominant capitalist ideology of the Nepalese society over the life of the poor Nepali people, the research paper applies neo-Marxist insights, with special focus on Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci. The chief finding is that Bhattarai is critical to persisting capitalist ideology of the Nepalese society that forces innocent Nepali youths to leave their country just for survival. But, in turn, they get robbed and are compelled to work like slaves in the cruel Muglan. It is expected that researchers intending to explore on Nepali literature from the neo-Marxist perspective will find the paper a useful reference.

Resistance Against Deprivation of Females in Niharika’s Chreeharan

This research paper aims to explore resistance of chief female characters, Satyawatee, Gandharee, and Draupadi, in Nilam Karki Niharika’s novel, Cheerharan, against the deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights of women in the male-dominated Nepalese society. Satyawatee and Gandharee are victimized by patriarchy and portrayed as submissive. But Draupadi resists against the victimization of women in the novel. In an identical way, some women have internalized sexism in Nepalese society while others have objected to this. Draupadi, the chief character of Cheerharan, acts as an adamant feminist to revolt against the treatment of Nepali women as the inferior sex. The theoretical tools taken to explore the assumed truth are the feminists’ ideologies developed by such radical feminists as Simone de Beauvoir and Virginia Woolf. The study demonstrates that Cheerharan is the depiction of the pathetic condition of the Nepalese women which has not changed significantly from the ancient time to the present time. The chief finding of the paper is that Satyawatee and Gandharee, like most of Nepali women, know the ill practices of men but can’t resist against them because they take the socialization process for granted; while Drupadi, like a bold modern Nepali woman, reacts against the ill-practices of males towards females. It is assumed that the researchers intending to explore Nepali literature from the feminist perspective can take the paper as a reference.

Lockdown under lockdown? Pandemic, the carceral and COVID-19 in British prisons.

The relationship between pandemic, or chronic infectious diseases, and the carceral, meaning set‐apart spaces of enforced confinement for “wrong‐doers,” has a long, tangled history. It features in Foucault's inquiries into disciplinary power and its associated spatial formations, not least in the shape of the modern prison. Drawing lightly from Foucault's claims about disciplinary and biopolitical power, as well as on his anti‐prison activism, this paper explores three possibilities for penal transformation arising during the early months of COVID‐19 in UK prisons (circa March to August 2020). Consulting primary source material, these possibilities are respectively identified as “retrenching,” “reworking” or “reducing” the carceral. A chief finding is that under the press of pandemic “emergency,” the tilt of emphasis has been towards a retrenched or reworked “carceral state,” disappointing any promise of abolition, let alone more humble reduction in carceral conditions. The “biological sub‐citizens” of prisons are hence being left especially vulnerable to the press of pandemic, in part precisely because of how carceral spatialities are being intensified.

Critical Perspective on Communalism and Casteism in Nepal

This paper attempts to deal with the contemporary social issues of Nepal, particularly, communalism, and casteism from the critical perspectives propounded by the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, namely, Max Horkheimer in “Traditional and Critical Theory” (1937) and Herbert Marcuse in “Critical Theory” (1968). Its main objective is to challenge the ways communalism, casteism, and even the feminine issues are described as ideologies that seek to divide people from their society and their value systems. The theoretical tool used for it is the analytical approach to the critical theories of Horkheimer and Marcuse. Casteism and communalism have been the principal cause of social discrimination in Nepal. The chief finding of the study is that the so-called untouchable people of Nepal suffer from their livelihood problems and identity problems because of the majority’s indifference toward them. The significance of the research lies in the attempt to reconstruct the identity of Dalits, untouchables, and exploited women in relation to the constitutional provisions of inclusion in Nepal. It is believed that this paper stands as a reference to the scholars interested to research the topic further.

What Are the Readability Issues in Sub-Contracting’s Tender Documents?

Readability is an important aspect that each sub-contracting’s tender documentation should have in order to ensure commonality in the interpretation of its terms by the general contractor and sub-contractor. Otherwise, their contractual relationship is fueled by conflict. Previous studies indicated that the documents provided to the sub-contractors in practice are often not easy to read; the reason behind this problem has not been explored yet. This paper bridges this gap by defining 14 readability issues, following a systematic content analysis of real documents of 34 tenders of the sub-contracting arrangement. Further, it introduces a framework of the anti-measures of the specified issues through examining the readability-associated literature. The research’s chief finding is that 8 out of the 14 readability issues are responsible for 73.1184% of the ease-of-reading problems in the sub-contracting’s tender documentation. These readability issues are as follows: poor presentation of the format of the tender documentation, sentences and clauses are too long and complicated, spelling and grammatical errors, abstractness or vagueness of words or sentences, using controversial phrases, repetition of provisions or clauses, poor illustration of procedure or process, and listing of irrelevant conditions to the tender scope. The study also, while discussing the readability issues, categorizes them into four pivots, including structural and presentation-related problems, lengthening and repetition-related problems, text-related problems, and terminology-related problems. To date, it is believed that such classification has not been realized in any of the prior literature. These results have implications that can benefit drafters by enabling them to know the possible dimensions of the readability problems and their countermeasures concerning the sub-contracting’s tender documents for up-skilling their drafting style when formulating such documentation in the future.

Revival of Fallen Women in Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello

The research article aims to explore the attempt of the so-called ‘fallen women’, the socially excluded women, to revive their status in Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Witch of Portobello. The principal objective of this research is to analyze how Athena, the protagonist of the novel, exposes the female face of God in a male-dominated society, and to investigate how Athena’s relentless struggle throughout her life paves the way for rebuilding the female identity. In addition to the close reading of the text, The Witch of, through the explorative, analytical method, the research tool used to conduct this research is feminist criticism, within the conceptual frameworks of such revolutionary French feminists as Sheila Ruth, Luce Irigary and so forth. The working hypothesis is that Athena practices witchcraft to express the outrage of the whole women community who have been bearing the repression from centuries. She becomes able to prove that women are not witches but sources of creation, and hence they are equivalent to god. The chief finding is that the portrayal of Athena’s character and her struggle in The Witch of Portobello can be taken as a female’s effort to create equal status in patriarchal society avoiding the tag of witch. It is expected that researchers willing to explore Coelho further from feminist or other perspectives can take the paper as a useful reference.

Voice against Instrumentalization of Shame in Sanghera’s Daughters of Shame: A Feminist Perspective

The primary aim of this research is to explore how the female protagonists of the novel, Daughters of Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera resist the patriarchal trend of instrumentalizing women as shameful creatures, marginalizing women and how they struggle to establish their identity. Through the close reading of the text from the perspectives of Materialist feminism, the paper focuses on how the major women characters, along with the writer herself, like Shazia, Fozia Maya, Shabana and Yasmin help each other by giving psychological and physical support to fight against exploitation by men. These characters represent the dominated Pakistani Muslim and Sikh women in the modern city in Derby in particular and the Sikh and Muslim communities in general. The memoir has presented women as the object to be used for convenience, the satisfaction of men, and as unpaid domestic laborers. The chief finding is that the memoir depicts the social reality of how Muslim and Sikh women living in Western countries are compelled to tolerate domestic violence, honor-based crimes, and forceful marriage. It is expected that the article will encourage other researchers to apply materialist feminism in other fictions.

Effect of corporate disclosure and press media on market liquidity: Evidence from Japan

News on corporate information can enhance clarity or add to confusion for market participants, especially investors. We explore how two diverse types of information dissemination —corporate disclosure and media coverage—influence stock market liquidity by mediating information asymmetries. We conclude that the two information inflows have notable and distinct impacts on liquidity. Our chief finding suggests that information from corporate disclosures induces a wider bid-ask spread, consistent with increased information asymmetries among investors. In contrast, we find that press media coverage—both good and bad news—improves liquidity. This indicates that mass media is a critical channel that provides investors with news to mitigate information uncertainty. Further, this media effect is partly driven by original journalism coverage and assistance for investors' information assimilation. Finally, in the case of stocks in which retail investors' participation is greater, the liquidity-improving effect of mass media is more prominent.

Counterfeit Reality of Egalitarianism With Reference to Manju Kapur’s Brothers

The purpose of the study is to analyze the presentation of egalitarianism in traditional and modern world as colored by the hands of the woman writer Manju Kapur in her work Brothers. It foregrounds the relationship between the real world and the fictional world of women which is more or less the same. The chief finding is that the present life of women has a turn and development when compared to the previous generation, but the hidden complexity burst out at certain stage which proves that the convention is still prevailing. The study can help the readers to see the real world through writings and can understand and read the mind of women who suffer from sexual harassment, patriarchal dominance, in due time of optimistic life of fulfilled desires and courage of modern women. This article excerpts the proposed gender study and presents the gender discrimination of two generations portrayed by the writer which clearly exposes the deep variation as well as the oneness, and results in the projection of the real world in words. The positive changes in women’s lives and the sexual deviations too have been discussed. This study focuses on the traditional and modern livelihood of male and female through the novel Brothers authored by Manju Kapur, a well-known Indian women writer.

A systematic study on the reaction mechanisms for the microencapsulation of a volatile phase change material (PCM) via one-step in situ polymerisation

The microencapsulation of volatile phase change materials (PCMs) is very challenging to achieve high payload and excellent barrier properties. Our previous work indicates that the emulsifiers used in the process offer unique properties to the formulated microcapsules. In the present work, an assortment of hydrocolloid and synthetic emulsifiers were employed to tackle the reaction mechanisms of the encapsulation process. Microcapsules with exceptionally large payloads (up to ∼95.6 wt%) were produced with excellent core retention. The effects of emulsifiers were deliberated, in which it was found that the microcapsule quality is greatly affected by the functional groups located on the emulsifiers. Interfacial tension and interfacial dilatational rheology did not prove a significant correlation with the emulsifier type, although these factors still play a part in the stability of the O/W emulsion. It was conveyed that resorcinol is the most stable dihydroxybenzenes species in this process. Ammonium chloride alternatives were exploited, conveying that ammonium carbonate and ammonium nitrate can also be successfully used in this process. However, the chief finding of this work lies in the proof that carboxyl groups speed up the reaction rate to the extent that the UF particles become too large to maintain controlled and steady deposition onto the O/W interface, leading to porous microcapsules. The emulsifiers with hydroxyl groups created UF particles too small to do so. Intermediate reactions were displayed with amine/amide groups or a combination of groups. This work strongly broadens the understanding of how emulsifiers affect the one-step in situ polymerisation process, which, in turn, provides an array of available emulsifiers that can be used to encapsulate other volatile core material contents.

Heterogeneity, Displacement, and Alienation in Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

The paper aims to explore the postmodern issues such as heterogeneity, displacement, and alienation in Kiran Desai’s novel, The Inheritance of Loss with respect to its impact on the Indian lifestyle and culture. To analyze how this fiction demonstrates the impact of globalization, racial contempt, and alienation, illegal immigration, diasporic communities, hybridization, and cultural infiltration with special reference to the characters, such as Biju, who grow up within the novel, the research tool taken for the research is postmodern theoretical perspectives advocated by Jean-Francois Lyotard, Michel Foucault, and Jean Baudrillard. Applying the qualitative research method, and collecting data through the close reading of the text, The Inheritance of Loss from the context of postmodernity, the paper seeks to display how Desai limns the problems of insurgency, declining moral standard, and behavior of individuals, increasing corruption in the Indian society after its independence. The chief finding of the research is that characters like Sai and Gyan lose love, Biju loses his possessions, Lola and Noni lose their dignity and privacy of their house, Jemubhai loses his Indianness. It is expected that scholars interested to study postmodernity in Desai can take the paper as a reference.

Ghana’s ICT4AD policy: between policy and reality

PurposeNearly at the end of its lifespan, the Ghana ICT4AD policy is in a position for a holistic view, especially through the eyes of the intended beneficiaries. This paper aims to fill that gap. The paper measures the gap between what was intended and what has been realised and, based on that, makes recommendations for stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThe research used the design reality gap analysis approach to numerically examine the deviation or otherwise of the ideals of the Ghana ICT4AD policy from or to the reality on the ground. It required the breaking down of the problem into dimensions and subdimensions and involved interviewing office holders, academics, practitioners and students over a three-year period. The recommendations include a review of the policy before it expires and an explicit designation of an agency responsible for coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the various stages of the policy.FindingsThe chief finding is that Ghana’s ICT4AD policy might miss the targets totally, or might well be a partial failure unless action is taken to close the design–reality gaps identified by the research. As the policy is almost at the end of its lifespan, recommendations are even more useful when the recommended revision takes place.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of the is that it looks only at the implementation success or failure without a probe into the causal factors and/or the impact on society.Practical implicationsThe policy runs full term at end 2022, with large gaps between the plans of the framers and the reality on the ground. An immediate revision of the policy is most recommended.Originality/valueBesides this study, the authors have not come across any such comprehensive study of the Ghana ICT4AD policy, especially with the amount of data now available after two decades. There is a similarity with a Pakistani study, which has been acknowledged in this study, but the two works differ greatly in methodology, context and style.

The Role of Rigid Residues in Modulating TEM-1 β-Lactamase Function and Thermostability.

The relationship between protein motions (i.e., dynamics) and enzymatic function has begun to be explored in β-lactamases as a way to advance our understanding of these proteins. In a recent study, we analyzed the dynamic profiles of TEM-1 (a ubiquitous class A β-lactamase) and several ancestrally reconstructed homologues. A chief finding of this work was that rigid residues that were allosterically coupled to the active site appeared to have profound effects on enzyme function, even when separated from the active site by many angstroms. In the present work, our aim was to further explore the implications of protein dynamics on β-lactamase function by altering the dynamic profile of TEM-1 using computational protein design methods. The Rosetta software suite was used to mutate amino acids surrounding either rigid residues that are highly coupled to the active site or to flexible residues with no apparent communication with the active site. Experimental characterization of ten designed proteins indicated that alteration of residues surrounding rigid, highly coupled residues, substantially affected both enzymatic activity and stability; in contrast, native-like activities and stabilities were maintained when flexible, uncoupled residues, were targeted. Our results provide additional insight into the structure-function relationship present in the TEM family of β-lactamases. Furthermore, the integration of computational protein design methods with analyses of protein dynamics represents a general approach that could be used to extend our understanding of the relationship between dynamics and function in other enzyme classes.

Evaluating international mediated public diplomacy efforts to promote women’s rights in the Arab world through in-depth analysis of social media: a comparative study of the BBC, Aljazeera, Al-Arabiya, Russia Today, and France24

ABSTRACT This research aims to examine the mediated public diplomacy efforts of the top five international broadcasters to the Arab world, namely the BBC, Aljazeera, Al-Arabiya, Russia Today, and France24 by evaluating their coverage of women’s rights issues. The study compared coverage by the BBC, Aljazeera, Al-Arabiya, Russia Today, and France24 of the “Rahaf” case. The author has applied Entman’s definition of framing: “selecting and highlighting some facets of events or issues, and making connections among them so as to promote a particular interpretation, evaluation, and solution.” Systematically, the current study applied social media sentiment analysis and framing content analysis methods, which combine different approaches to create insights. The chief finding indicates that international frame-building and public engagement played a major role in BBC and Al-Arabiya coverage, and did so more effectively than Al-Jazeera, France 24, and Russia Today in terms of promoting women’s rights in the Arab world.