Cohesion Process Research Articles

The impact of salinity on the cohesion process of quartz substracts: A molecular dynamics study.

The moisture with salt ions adsorbed on the mineral soil surface is crucial to the cohesion process when the media is exposed to marine or coastal environments. However, the impact of salinity on the cohesion of soils is not well studied at the nanoscale. In this study, the salinity effect was investigated by studying the wettability and capillary force of NaCl solutions on quartz substrates via a molecular dynamics-based approach. Besides, a new visualization method was proposed to measure the contact angle of liquid droplets from the aspect of nanoscale. The results indicated that salt ions can weaken the wettability of the liquid on the quartz surface and inhibit the capillary force. Compared with water, the liquid with a 10% NaCl solution can achieve a capillary force reduction of around 70%, resulting in a detrimental effect on the cohesion of soils. Overall, this study enhanced the understanding of the nanoscale salinity effect on the cohesion process and provided insights into the modification of the mechanical properties of soils from the aspect of nanoscale.

Developing incremental innovation in the high-tech industry: the effect of age and tenure in research and development teams

PurposeThis study's main goal is to expand the theoretical perspective and discuss the unique influence of age and tenure on R&D teams' incremental innovation outcomes. We answer scholars call for additional research on age-related processes by testing pathways through which older employees can benefit organizational performance. The current study advances the literature by relating to the context-related process of cohesion and investigating its moderating influence on the relationship between team antecedents (i.e. age and tenure) and incremental innovation.Design/methodology/approachThis research sample consists of 108 R&D teams operating in six mature high-tech organizations located in Israel. The participating entities design and manufacture state-of-the-art innovations in the semiconductors, communications and information technology sectors. The number of teams in each participating entity was 35, 21, 21, 19, 7 and 5, respectively. The sample consisted of 443 R&D employees and 212 team leaders/managers. The total sample comprised 655 participants. Team members filled out questionnaires to assess the independent variables. The dependent-variable questionnaire focusing on the team's incremental innovation accomplishments was completed by two managers for each team.FindingsWe found a negative association between team members' age and incremental innovation. Hypothesis 2, which predicted a positive association between team members' tenure and incremental innovation, was marginally supported. The interaction between team members' age and team members' tenure on incremental innovation was marginally supported. Hypothesis 4, which predicted that the negative association between team members' age and incremental innovation would be mitigated when the level of team cohesion is low, was supported. Hypothesis 5, which assumed that the positive association between team members' tenure and incremental innovation would be stronger when the level of cohesion is high, was supported.Practical implicationsThis research's results regarding the negative influence of R&D employees' age on incremental innovation are crucial for managers and team leaders in the high-tech industry. Following the age stereotype, many of them avoid recruiting and assigning older employees to R&D teams dealing in innovation creation and development. They should expand their perspective and consider additional attributes in order to assign the employees that best match the team's mission. The results show that R&D teams produce high and similar levels of incremental innovation when the level of team members' tenure is high, regardless of their age.Originality/valueThis study benefited from a relatively high number of respondents and teams from leading high-tech organizations, a high response rate and a research design that made it possible to establish a linkage between data on the independent variables and data on incremental innovation collected from separate independent sources. The data on the dependent variable—incremental innovation—was based on independent assessments made by two managers for each team. The study's measurements were based on leading studies on innovation.

Processes of Cohesion and Fragmentation among Arab Tribes During the Syrian Civil War

ABSTRACT With the rise of ISIS in eastern Syria after 2014, there was a discussion among Western powers about the possibility of arming Arab tribes to lead the fight against ISIS on the ground. This paper challenges the assumption that tribes are cohesive units and argues that internal differences and contested leadership run counter to the image of tribes as unified groups. While tribes are fragmented, one can, however, observe some examples that testify to the existence of tribal solidarity during the course of the Syrian civil war. Overall, this paper attempts to answer the following questions: What caused fragmentation among members of the Syrian tribes during the Syrian Civil War? What inspired cohesion in other instances? It argues that multiple factors, such as violence, patronage networks with internal and external authorities, and competition among leaders to represent the group internally and externally, can have a fundamental effect on the processes of cohesion and fragmentation.

Scaling beyond north and south: local agency of Finnish municipalities in European structural funds

ABSTRACT Increasing regional differentiation and discontent in Europe have directed critical attention to European territorial cohesion policy and the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Fund) mechanism. There is wide literature investigating macro-level processes of regional differentiation and cohesion as well as the efficiency of multi-level governance in the implementation of the funding mechanism. This study contributes to the existing multidisciplinary literature on cohesion policy and structural funds by extending an understanding of the ESI Funds system to a local agency perspective with a specific focus on Finnish municipalities and the programme period 2014–2020, characterized by austerity policies, regional discontent and disagreement between the ESI programme regions. The examination offers a new understanding of local agents and beneficiaries’ differential access in the ESI Funds, showing that the agency of municipalities in the ESI Funds is simultaneously enabled and constrained by the multilevel Structural Funds programme’s areas of specialization, national regional policies, partnerships and the local environment. The findings indicate that generating inclusive and equal possibilities for all municipalities would necessitate more attention to the allocation of ESI Funds within the programme regions, not just between them.

Preventing diabetes in Latino families: A protocol for a randomized control trial

BackgroundLatino families are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2D) and lifestyle intervention is the first-line approach for preventing T2D. The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a culturally-grounded lifestyle intervention that prioritizes health promotion and diabetes prevention for Latino families. The intervention is guided by a novel Family Diabetes Prevention Model, leveraging the family processes of engagement, empowerment, resilience, and cohesion to orient the family system towards health. MethodLatino families (N = 132) will be recruited and assessed for glucose tolerance as measured by an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) and General and Weight-Specific Quality of Life (QoL) at baseline, four months, and 12 months. All members of the household age 10 and over will be invited to participate. Families will be randomized to the intervention group or a control group (2:1). The 16-week intervention includes weekly nutrition and wellness classes delivered by bilingual, bicultural Registered Dietitians and community health educators at a local YMCA along with two days/week of supervised physical activity classes and a third day of unsupervised physical activity. Control families will meet with a physician and a Registered Dietitian to discuss the results of their metabolic testing and recommend lifestyle changes. We will test the efficacy of a family-focused diabetes prevention intervention for improving glucose tolerance and increasing QoL and test for mediators and moderators of long-term changes. ConclusionThis study will provide much needed data on the efficacy of a family-focused Diabetes Prevention Program among high-risk Latino families.

Opening Doors: The Role of Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges in the Social Cohesion Process of Migrant and Local Youth in Higher Education

Erasmus+ Gençlik Değişimleri (E+GD) projeleri Avrupa Birliği tarafından gençlerin sosyal katılımının güçlendirilmesi ve çeşitli anahtar yeterlilikler geliştirebilmeleri amacıyla desteklenmektedir. Son yıllarda Türkiye, Avrupa genelinde yapılan proje başvurusu sayısında en fazla başvuru ile birinci sırayı korumaktadır. Her yıl binlerce genç hem yurt içinde hem de yurt dışında E+GD projelerine katılmaktadır. Katılımcıların büyük çoğunluğunu yükseköğretimdeki gençler oluşturmaktadır. Özellikle son yıllarda hızlı bir artış gösteren göçmen öğrenci nüfusuyla birlikte gençlerin sosyal uyum süreçleri tartışma konusu olmuştur. Araştırmanın amacı, Şanlıurfa’da gerçekleşen E+GD projelerinin kazanımlarının imkânı kısıtlı göçmen ve yerel gençlerin sosyal uyum süreçlerine etkisinin ortaya çıkarılmasıdır. Bu bağlamda gençlerin imkân kısıtlılık algıları, projelere katılma motivasyonları, proje sonrası kazanımları ve gelişimleri tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, katılımcı göçmen ve yerel gençlerin sosyal uyumlarının güçlendiği ortaya çıkmıştır. Sosyal hayata dâhil olma, kişisel yeterliliklerini geliştirme noktasında E+GD projelerinin gençlerin hayatlarında önemli değişimlere yol açtığı ve gençlere yeni ufuklar açtığı görülmüştür. Bununla birlikte bu çalışma E+GD projelerinin göçmen ve yerel gençlerin birlikte yaşama kültürünün inşasındaki önemini ortaya koymaktadır.

Syrian Forced Migration and Social Cohesion Process in Türkiye

This article aims to understand the challenges of war-persecuted asylum seekers accommodated in Türkiye. Firstly, the core purpose of the research is to understand the level of social cohesion of Syrian asylum seekers in Turkish society. Secondly, the study investigates ways Syrian culture could be welcomed into Turkish social life. Additionally, it investigates the contributions given by asylum seekers to Turkish society and the major barriers they face when working with the host society. Another major part of the study examines the extent to which the bureaucratic and political institutions of Türkiye support their social cohesion and subsistence. The study consists of a review of the relevant literature concerning Syrian asylum seekers. It is based on the conventions with Syrians living in Türkiye and input from many experts working on the issue. The major findings revolve around the socio-economic, cultural, and ethnic complexities that must be navigated as part of the social cohesion process between the Syrians and the Turkish host society.

MODELING OF ETHNO-CULTURAL DIPLOMACY: ISOMORPHISM OF ACTORS AND LEVEL CORRELATION OF ACTIVITIES

This article is the result of the description and understanding of ethno-cultural processes in Kyrgyzstan. The subjects of the ethnosphere present new facets of their activities in the context of modern processes in Eurasia. The purpose of the article is to interpret ethno-cultural processes as a resource of Eurasian integration. Ethnoculturalism contains a great integration potential. The authors describe integration processes on the example of ethno-cultural communities of Kyrgyzstan. They are members of a mass ethno–cultural organization - the Assembly of the People of Kyrgyzstan. There are analogues of such a mass organization in many countries and regions in the Eurasian space. The authors use the term "cohesion" to denote integration processes in Kyrgyzstan and in the Eurasian space. For the scientific study of the multidimensional activity of ethno-cultural public associations, the authors use the modeling method. The model of ethno-cultural actors of Eurasian integration has four aspects. The combinatorial aspect of the model is particularly relevant. This aspect studies the processes of cohesion and the boundaries of cultures in Eurasia. The article uses the scientific method of modeling, synchronous description and comparison techniques. The study revealed a tendency to spread the specifics of the functioning of ethno-cultural public associations in the Eurasian space. The authors distinguish the formal and meaningful isomorphism of the described subjects. The ethno-cultural resources of Eurasian integration are an example of public diplomacy. Public diplomacy is currently relevant. The results of the study give a new impetus to the activities of the Assembly of Peoples of Kyrgyzstan and other People's assemblies in Eurasia.

A Component Selection Framework of Cohesion and Coupling Metrics

Component-based software engineering is concerned with the development of software that can satisfy the customer prerequisites through reuse or independent development. Coupling and cohesion measurements are primarily used to analyse the better software design quality, increase the reliability and reduced system software complexity. The complexity measurement of cohesion and coupling component to analyze the relationship between the component module. In this paper, proposed the component selection framework of Hexa-oval optimization algorithm for selecting the suitable components from the repository. It measures the interface density modules of coupling and cohesion in a modular software system. This cohesion measurement has been taken into two parameters for analyzing the result of complexity, with the help of low cohesion and high cohesion. In coupling measures between the component of inside parameters and outside parameters. The final process of coupling and cohesion, the measured values were used for the average calculation of components parameter. This paper measures the complexity of direct and indirect interaction among the component as well as the proposed algorithm selecting the optimal component for the repository. The better result is observed for high cohesion and low coupling in component-based software engineering.

Hardiness and mental health during naval deployment: The relation is mediated by social processes and not by self-regulatory processes

IntroductionThe aim of the present study was to investigate the mediating effects of cohesion and self-efficacy on the relation between hardiness and symptoms of anxiety and depression during naval international operations. Objective and methodIt was hypothesized that an indirect effect of both cohesion and operational self-efficacy would emerge even when controlling for pre-deployment measures of symptoms. ResultsThe results revealed a strong indirect effect of cohesion on the relationship between hardiness and scores on Hopkins Symptom Checklist – 25 items. The effect was evident for the total score and the dimensions of anxiety as well as depression. No effect was found for operational self-efficacy. ConclusionIt was concluded that the social process of cohesion outperforms the self-regulatory process of operational self-efficacy as a mediator between hardiness and mental health. Greater focus on developing crew cohesion may thus be important for maintaining mental health under stressful conditions.

The persistent effect of problem-solving and growing interpersonal relationships methods on the cognitive-social dimensions of the group environment among athletes

Introduction: Understanding the cognitive-social factors that contribute to group success is crucial in creating and maintaining a group and its cohesion process. Aim: The present study was conducted to investigate the persistent effect of problem-solving methods and create interpersonal relationships on the cognitive-social dimensions of the group environment of athletes. Method: This study was a semi-experimental type of research with a pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population was all female students of Islamic Azad University- Yadgar Imam Branch in the academic year 2017-2018. The statistical sample included 57 volunteer students who were randomly divided into three groups such as control, problem-solving exercises, and interpersonal relationship exercises. After the pre-test, all participants performed the desired exercises for 12 weeks and then took part in the post-test. The group Environment Questionnaire of Caron & et al (1987) was used to evaluate the cognitive-social dimensions of the group environment. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with repeated measures and Bonferroni's posthoc test using SPSS version 20 software. Results: The results showed a significant difference. The time and group effects showed that the interventions had a significant effect on the dimensions of individual attractions to the group–social and group integration (P<0.05). The results also showed that a significant difference was observed in the interaction effect of the time*group. The results of the Bonferroni post-hoc test also showed that the method based on interpersonal relationships has a significant effect on the cognitive-social components of the group environment (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it can be said that if the communication channels between the coach and team members are open so that each member can share the cognitive-social dimensions related to their behavior with others, it will lead to better performance.

Türkiye’de Gençlerin Göç Algısı ve Toplumsal Uyumun Önündeki Engeller

This study aims to determine the obstacles in the social cohesion process and analyze them sociologically, thereby suggesting social and political solutions to the problems through the perspectives of young people living in the city of Şanlıurfa. The present study was carried out with young people born in Turkey and Syria, who came together at the workshops conducted within the scope of a European Union funded Erasmus+ project in 2021. It used in-depth and semi-structured interviews to collect the data from young participants aged between 18 and 30 to understand the actions and narratives of participants and the intersection of their actions and narratives. The present study identified four fundamental obstacles to social cohesion: legal, economic, socio-cultural, and the public sphere. According to the study's findings, the abovementioned obstacles seriously hamper social cohesion between migrants and host communities.

Vertical and Horizontal Comparison as well as Referential Perfection of the Cohesion Between Inspection and Supervision in China and South Korea Under the Background of Judicial Reform

As China revised the Criminal Procedure Law in 2018, new requirements were put forward for procuratorial organs in the investigation of duty crimes, that is, proper connection and mutual cooperation. However, the cases investigated by the newly established national highest supervisory agency, the supervisory committee, are transferred to the people’s procuratorates. Thus, when the handling methods of cases accepted by the people’s procuratorates are based on the inconsistency between the provisions of the Supervision Law and the Criminal Procedure Law, the supervisory agencies and procuratorial agencies are faced with the connection of litigation procedures. From a horizontal point of view, this paper compares the procedures of cohesion between inspection and supervision in China and South Korea. Meanwhile, it grasps the unclear jurisdiction and intervention in the current cohesion process vertically to discuss the necessity and adaptability of system design. It puts forward that the evidence chain connection, the system establishment of case handling communication and coordination, and the procuratorate’s early intervention and the supervisory agency’s opinion are the rational thinking to promote the procedure cohesion, which helps clarify the duty crime case handling and ensures the logical consistency of the inspection and supervision cohesion system.

Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt zwischen Solidarität und Affinität

Abstract Currently, many authors in public and academic discourse speak of an increasing „social divide“ that threatens social cohesion. There has been a broad discussion on social cohesion in social sciences ever since: Different conceptions could be ideally classified in a scheme with a more rational (Weber, Parsons) and a more emotional pole (Durkheim, Tönnies). I explore this tension by following an affective turn in conceptions of social cohesion. Therefore, I focus on the concept of solidarity as representing the rational model of cohesion and the concept of affinity standing for the affective one. The affective turn brings about a twofold shift in the understanding of the central processes of social cohesion: from collectivity to connectivity and from rationality to affectivity. Still, this shift runs the danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Cohesion must neither be understood as exclusively reyling upon on either rational or affective processes. I propose to overcome this dichotomy by employing Hemming´s concept of „affective solidarity“. Rationaliy and affectivity must be understood as being mutually effective, the former modulating the latter, the latter energizing the former.

Політичний простір угорської нації: ресурс споріднених діаспор

The article presents the process of reformatting the practices of national development through an expanded interpretation of the endogenous political space of the national community. It is noted that the EU spatial strategies have a significant impact on the revision of the priorities of regional development of modern states, which, seeking to ensure the sustainable development of their own political systems, turn to the socio-political capital of related foreign diasporas and border regions. In the context of the spatial revolution and the recognition of the actual political space as a constructed system, the nationalpolitical space acquires the characteristics of a flexible network system where new practices of national cohesion are formed, which are not limited by the sovereign borders of the state. An example of the transformation of the process of national cohesion in Hungary is presented, which involves the incorporation of related foreign diasporas of Southern Slovakia, Transylvania, Vojvodina and Transcarpathia into a single socio-political system without revision of state borders. The socio-political development of Hungarian diasporas abroad is managed centrally through state institutions and programs. On the example of the creation of an extensive network of Hungarian political parties and NGOs within the socio-cultural spaces of the Hungarian diasporas, the process of building a system of autonomous projects along the perimeter of the borders of Hungary is shown, through which it seeks to modernize its own national doctrine by providing it with a transnational component. Hungarian policy considers Hungarian communities as a resource that can provide a political transit for the national doctrine, which provides a modern component of the ethno-national idea, and makes it possible to respond to the spatial transformations of the EU.

Emotional potential in the children's team

Introduction. Increased interest in the study various groups that perform joint activities in social, organizational, economic, sports psychology and work psychology nowadays. The urgency is: the fast changing forms of work organization based on the high economic interest and responsibility all members of the group; relative production-economic and organizational-managerial independence of labor collectives, which contributes to the self-organization development and self-government forms improvement; the team fitness issue is becoming more and more relevant.
 Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the group psychological work influence on the children emotional intelligence development and the processes of psychological stability and cohesion in a sport team.
 Methodology. We used the comprehensive diagnosis of the child's personality and status in the group (n=622). The main accent was made on the level of emotional intelligence (EQ) and sociometric status of the child. The main hypothesis: the higher the child`s EQ level, the higher its sociometric status. The standard PASW Statistics method was used to process the statistics.
 Results. Sociometric tests: 223 children had a low sociometric status (36%); 242 - satisfactory and within the norm limits (39%), 75 - above the average (12%), and only 81 had a high sociometric status (13%). The EQ level indicators (integrative level): 317 respondents had a low EQ level (51%); 218 - the average level (35%) and only 87 respondents had a high EI level (14%).
 Conclusions. After the implementation of the author's program for adaptation and the child emotional intelligence development, we have results: Sociometric test: only 56 children have lower sociometric status (9%); 144 - satisfactory and average (23%); 223 - above average (36%) and 199 - high sociometric status (32%). EQ level (integrative level), we also have positive changes: only 111 respondents remained with a low level of emotional intelligence (18%); 386 developed the level of emotional intelligence to the average (62%) and 125 had a high level of emotional intelligence (20%)

Territorial Cohesion and the Pandemic in Romania

Abstract Convergence and economic and social cohesion remain priorities for the EU, beyond failures to achieve the objectives of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy. Convergence and territorial cohesion, as a prerequisite for sustainable and durable development, have been the fundamental objectives that generated and developed the strategic planning in the EU, including through the two global strategies, ‘Lisbon’ and ‘Europe 2020’. The sustainability of these processes, even in periods of high economic growth, is questionable since real national convergence is based in many countries, including Romania, on large and widening divergences between regions and counties. In recent years, Romania has seen one of the most enhanced improvements in convergence compared to the EU average, from 60% in 2016 to 69% of the European average in 2019 respectively. During the same period, disparities between regions and counties have deepened. More than 10 years after EU accession and participation in the Community cohesion policy, there is still a third of the counties with less than 70% of the national average of gross domestic product per capita. The health crisis has deeply affected economic activity, but in a differentiated way, depending on the specific territorial economic structures. As a result, the objective of improved and sustainable real convergence, by bringing regions and counties closer together in terms of their level of development, is receding. The economic situation in the counties in 2020 indirectly provides support for assessing the impact of the pandemic on the territorial cohesion process. The implicit conclusion revealed by the latest statistical data is that the level of development has been the support for better resilience to the health crisis. Although the restrictions on international movement and the closure of tourist and industrial capacities have had general validity, the counties with a higher degree of disparity have been more affected.

THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL: MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS OF A WITNESS THIRTY YEARS LATER

On 9 November 2019 the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall which is undoubtedly the most important historical event since the end of the Second World War was celebrated almost all over the world. First of all, this article is dedicated to the historical events that led to the division of Germany in the immediate post-war period, to the evolution of relations between the two Germanys and, at a global level, between the two opposing blocs at the time of the “cold war” up to the fall of the Wall, on behalf of which the author, who was residing in Berlin at the time, also provides direct testimony. In the second part he moves on to examine the short and long term effects of the fall of the Wall for Germany, for Europe and for the whole world. The multiple problematic aspects are highlighted at each of these levels: a) in particular, with regard to the internal events in Germany, attention falls both on the juridical aspects of reunification (whether it was a matter of reunification on an equal basis or rather an “annexation” of the conquered state by the winner) and the social ones (whether the process of social reunification and cohesion – compared with the analogous processes that have taken place in Italy between North and South – can be said to be complete and successful); b) at the European level the influence that German unification has exerted on the integration process is analyzed. The institution of the single currency, the Euro, in the image and likeness of the old German Mark, as well as the expansion of the EU by accepting new members and attracting countries previously belonging to the Soviet bloc to the western one for mostly geopolitical reasons are definitely determined; c) finally, as regards international relations, the article follows the passage from the illusion of the “end of history” and the relaunch of the United Nations on the basis of values and objectives that are now common, thanks to the end of the Cold War, to the current reality of the “new cold war” and the “fragmented third world war”, characterized by the spread of numerous conflicts of different nature.

Good Practices of the European Union Countries Regarding the Integration of Refugees and Migrants

The countries of the European Union, which are final destinations or transit for refugees and migrants, face many social, humanitarian and financial challenges. They are expected to invest efforts and resources to enable migrant communities and the host society to activate their abilities, qualities and skills to build social cohesion and well-being between them. Local administrations provide many services that directly affect the integration of migrants and there-fore have a greater capacity to support the process of social cohesion, as opposed to governance at national level, which in many cases hinders local government initiatives to address social and economic problems arising from immigration. Integration is an extremely individual process and individual needs must be taken into account by the various institutions involved in this activity. Refugee integration is one of the indicators of democratic society, an indicator of the development and promotion of human rights and freedoms. It is a continuous and dynamic process that requires efforts and readiness on the part of refugees to adapt to their host society without having to give up their cultural identity, and therefore - readiness and understanding on the part of the host community and public institutions to perceive refugees as equal persons of themselves. Integration is a long-term two-way process of mutual adjustment of incoming immigrants and citizens of the host country.

Role of the DDX11 DNA Helicase in Warsaw Breakage Syndrome Etiology.

Warsaw breakage syndrome (WABS) is a genetic disorder characterized by sister chromatid cohesion defects, growth retardation, microcephaly, hearing loss and other variable clinical manifestations. WABS is due to biallelic mutations of the gene coding for the super-family 2 DNA helicase DDX11/ChlR1, orthologous to the yeast chromosome loss protein 1 (Chl1). WABS is classified in the group of “cohesinopathies”, rare hereditary diseases that are caused by mutations in genes coding for subunits of the cohesin complex or protein factors having regulatory roles in the sister chromatid cohesion process. In fact, among the cohesion regulators, an important player is DDX11, which is believed to be important for the functional coupling of DNA synthesis and cohesion establishment at the replication forks. Here, we will review what is known about the molecular and cellular functions of human DDX11 and its role in WABS etiopathogenesis, even in light of recent findings on the role of cohesin and its regulator network in promoting chromatin loop formation and regulating chromatin spatial organization.