Common Vision Research Articles

Critical considerations for communicating environmental DNA science.

The economic and methodological efficiencies of environmental DNA (eDNA) based survey approaches provide an unprecedented opportunity to assess and monitor aquatic environments. However, instances of inadequate communication from the scientific community about confidence levels, knowledge gaps, reliability, and appropriate parameters of eDNA-based methods have hindered their uptake in environmental monitoring programs and, in some cases, has created misperceptions or doubts in the management community. To help remedy this situation, scientists convened a session at the Second National Marine eDNA Workshop to discuss strategies for improving communications with managers. These include articulating the readiness of different eDNA applications, highlighting the strengths and limitations of eDNA tools for various applications or use cases, communicating uncertainties associated with specified uses transparently, and avoiding the exaggeration of exploratory and preliminary findings. Several key messages regarding implementation, limitations, and relationship to existing methods were prioritized. To be inclusive of the diverse managers, practitioners, and researchers, we and the other workshop participants propose the development of communication workflow plans, using RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) charts to clarify the roles of all pertinent individuals and parties and to minimize the chance for miscommunications. We also propose developing decision support tools such as Structured Decision-Making (SDM) to help balance the benefits of eDNA sampling with the inherent uncertainty, and developing an eDNA readiness scale to articulate the technological readiness of eDNA approaches for specific applications. These strategies will increase clarity and consistency regarding our understanding of the utility of eDNA-based methods, improve transparency, foster a common vision for confidently applying eDNA approaches, and enhance their benefit to the monitoring and assessment community.

In uncharted territory "together each achieves more": a United Nations interagency collaboration for continuity of maternal and newborn health services during the coronavirus pandemic in the Eastern and Southern Africa region.

The frangible collaboration between three United Nations agencies (UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO) in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region was strengthened by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The aim was to combine existing resources and expertise to support countries to respond to the pandemic more effectively and efficiently regarding the provision of maternal and newborn health services. Three kinds of activities were conducted: 15 webinars on a variety of topics and issues impacted by the pandemic; virtual training on maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response as well as on quality improvement; and the development of online e-learning modules for continuous professional development. Key dimensions of the collaboration included: a common vision; commitment to the process; dialogue; building relationships and trust; communication and information sharing; sharing of technical and financial resources and expertise; mobilization of additional resources; celebration of intermediate outcomes; facilitative leadership; and institutional design. Start-up lessons revolved around shared risk taking, while retaining agency autonomy. Collaboration lessons included forming a "united front", harnessing technology to accelerate results, and mitigating adverse structural and contextual factors. There are widespread perceptions that collaborative initiatives tend to yield minimum results in terms of increased efficiency or effectiveness. This particular collaborative effort demonstrated elements of feasibility, value addition, synergy, cost effectiveness and demonstrable results where UN agencies delivered as one. The emergency in healthcare as a ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic has caused a rethink of collaboration models and levels of engagement.

Ajna: Generalized deep uncertainty for minimal perception on parsimonious robots.

Robots are active agents that operate in dynamic scenarios with noisy sensors. Predictions based on these noisy sensor measurements often lead to errors and can be unreliable. To this end, roboticists have used fusion methods using multiple observations. Lately, neural networks have dominated the accuracy charts for perception-driven predictions for robotic decision-making and often lack uncertainty metrics associated with the predictions. Here, we present a mathematical formulation to obtain the heteroscedastic aleatoric uncertainty of any arbitrary distribution without prior knowledge about the data. The approach has no prior assumptions about the prediction labels and is agnostic to network architecture. Furthermore, our class of networks, Ajna, adds minimal computation and requires only a small change to the loss function while training neural networks to obtain uncertainty of predictions, enabling real-time operation even on resource-constrained robots. In addition, we study the informational cues present in the uncertainties of predicted values and their utility in the unification of common robotics problems. In particular, we present an approach to dodge dynamic obstacles, navigate through a cluttered scene, fly through unknown gaps, and segment an object pile, without computing depth but rather using the uncertainties of optical flow obtained from a monocular camera with onboard sensing and computation. We successfully evaluate and demonstrate the proposed Ajna network on four aforementioned common robotics and computer vision tasks and show comparable results to methods directly using depth. Our work demonstrates a generalized deep uncertainty method and demonstrates its utilization in robotics applications.

Pillars for successful operationalization of one health as an ecosystem approach: experience from a human-animal interface in the Maasai steppe in Tanzania

BackgroundSolving complex public health challenges requires integrated approaches to health, such as One Health. A key element of the One Health approach is the interrelationship between human, animal and environmental health and the associated multistakeholder collaboration across many cultural, disciplinary, institutional and sectoral boundaries. Here we describe a pragmatic approach for One Health operationalisation basing on our long-term engagement with communities faced with health challenges in a human-livestock-wildlife interface in the Maasai steppe in northern Tanzania.MethodsUsing a qualitative study design we performed an outcome mapping to document insights on results integration from our previous project. Data were collected through participatory community meetings, in-depth interviews and field observations. Field notes were coded and analysed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsWe found that effective implementation of One Health interventions in complex ecosystems works best by understanding local conditions and their context and by working closely with the local people and relevant disciplinary players as one complex adaptive system. Community engagement, systems analysis, transdisciplinarity as well as political commitment played critical roles in successful operationalization of One Health. We have further emphasized that project ownership is as important to the local community as it is to the researchers. When used in combination, these elements (community engagement, systems analysis, transdisciplinarity) provide essential pillars for co-creation and maintaining collective action to set a common vision across disciplines, serving as inputs for a metrics-based toolbox for One Health operationalisation.ConclusionConsidering the novelty and complexity of One Health operationalisation, there is need also to develop scorecard-based guidance for assessment of One Health programs at local and national level. This paper proposes a framework for the optimization of an ecosystems-based One Health approach for prevention and control of Vector-Borne Diseases implemented at the local, sub-national or national level.

Clinical Etiology of Optic Neuropathy patients visiting BPKLCOS, Institute of Medicine, Nepal

Background & Objective: The clinical etiology of Optic neuropathy is vast and may be associated with life threatening conditions which might demand initiation of treatment. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate clinical etiology among patients visiting ophthalmology OPD of Institute of medicine, Nepal.
 Material and Methods: This is a descriptive study conducted at B.P. Koirala Lions Centre for Ophthalmic Studies, Institute of Medicine, Nepal. All cases of optic neuropathy who presented to outpatient department (OPD), indoor patients from 7th July 2017-6th July 2018 were included in the study. A detailed clinical history was obtained which was followed by ophthalmic examination and relevant investigation. In addition, assessment of visual acuity, color vision, contrast sensitivity, visual field were done. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 24.
 Results: A total of 86 eyes of 66 patients with optic neuropathy meeting all the inclusion criteria during the study period were enrolled with 20 patients having bilateral eye involvement and 46 having unilateral eye involvement accounting for a total of 86 eyes with optic neuropathy. The mean age of the affected population was 39.12±13.57 years with male to female ratio of 1:1.1. The most common etiology for optic neuropathy was optic neuritis (n=40 patients, 60.6%). Diminution of vision was the most common presenting complaints. Best corrected visual acuity was 6/24 –6/60 in 39.5% cases (n=34). Majority of the eyes had presence of RAPD (n=53 eyes, 61.7%) The most common color vision defect was nonspecific defect (n=41eyes, 47.7%).There was reduced contrast in 55.8% of the affected eyes in cases of optic neuropathy. Majority of affected eyes had blurred disc margin (n=39 eyes, 45.3%) followed by hyperemic disc and pale disc. Majority of the patients could not perform visual field due to low vision but those who could perform had enlarged blind spot.
 Conclusion: The most frequent etiological factor for optic neuropathy was optic neuritis. In cases of optic neuropathy, the main complaint of the majority of patients was a dimunition in vision. The majority of cases of optic neuropathy involved abnormalities in both colour vision and contrast sensitivity. The most typical visual field pattern in eyes with optic neuropathy was an enlarged blind spot. Optic neuritis is the most common cause of optic neuropathy, followed by traumatic optic neuropathy, and toxic metabolic optic neuropathy.

Is а Multipolar World Possible аfter February 24 аnd is There a Place for the EU in It?

The present article focuses on the question is a multipolar world possible after 24 February 2022 and what is the place of the EU in this world. The system of international relations established after the Second World War is undergoing its most serious revision with the beginning of Russia’s military actions against Ukraine. The declarative political requests of Russia, China and the countries around them after 24 February 2022 were transformed into real actions, including military ones, which show the ambition and capabilities of these countries to cause discussion about and effect changes in the existing system of international relations. The EU faces serious challenge – will it be able to assert its role as a political pole in a multipolar world. This role implies that the EU consolidates, reforms and extends the scope of the multilateral approach through which it operates to new areas, so that it can help Europeans realize their interests on the global stage and contribute to a more stable multipolar order, maintaining its openness by adherence to cooperation and accepted rules. Therefore, the EU must become a political union with common economic visions and procedures, which will determine whether the EU is part of the forming poles or will have an independent weight. At the same time, the question arises of whether we are ready for a multipolar currency world. The analysis leads to the following conclusions: 1) a multipolar world is possible; 2) the challenge is that the process of forming multipolarity in international relations does not lead to antagonism and fragmentation, but to strengthening the processes of unification and integration; 3) the world is changing rapidly and humanity is entering a new era of deep transformation, which also includes the presence of multipolarity, economic globalization, development of information society, cultural diversity, transformation of the architecture of global governance and world order, as well as increasing interconnectedness and interdependence between countries.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO FRANCES HESSELBEIN

AbstractThe author relates stories about his friendship with Frances Hesselbein, and how he was mentored by her. The major segment of the article is about the creation of the Frances Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh, where the author had a long career. He writes: “Frances continues to have a profound impact on my thinking today. One of her big ideas called for carrying a big basket. Frances explained it was important to adopt and adapt a given idea. This concept has become part of my DNA.” Frances’s leadership ideas are further explored, including the following, as related by the author: “Another big idea I learned from Frances was the need to establish a common language leading to a common vision resulting in common ground.”

Towards a Reasoned Glossary of Green Conservation: A Semantic Review of Green-Oriented Terms in the Field of Cultural Heritage

The concept of green conservation has become a popular expression in parallel to the inflated development of innovative green practices and products for cultural heritage. However, the absence of a consistent definition of emerging green concepts does not prevent the dilution of the terms in scientific research and commercial propaganda. On this basis, this article discusses the several meanings of the concept of green conservation and its related terms toward a viable and comprehensive definition. The semantic analysis relies on the identification of different sources to evaluate the coherence of the meanings in usage in scientific and non-scientific domains. Search terms—such as “bio”, “eco”, and “green”—were collected and classified into lemmas of emerging constructs. Lastly, two glossaries resulting from the two main sources provide a comparative analysis to evaluate the degree of intersection and divergence among equal terms. The research drew from over 100 studies and five international databases to generate a hierarchical classification among 220 constructs and to identify six definitions of green conservation. This paper contributes to greater clarity and encourages a semantic discussion toward a common vision for a green conservation perspective for future research and informed preservation practice.

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Convergence Insufficiency Prevalence and Management Options

Background: Convergence insufficiency (CI) is one of the most common binocular vision disorders. The condition negatively affects the quality of life through its impact on near activities, while there is a large gap in the information on its global prevalence and consensus on treatment. Objectives: The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the prevalence and treatment options available for convergence insufficiency. Methods: The study was performed in 2023 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA-2020) guidelines. The authors have searched Google Scholar, Research Gate, Scopus, PubMed, Index Medicus, Web of Science, and the JAMA network. This review included peer-reviewed studies published between January 2000 to January 2023 that assessed the prevalence and treatment modalities of convergence insufficiency. Results: The authors screened 13250 studies, 20 for prevalence and 15 for treatment from 12 countries that met the inclusion criteria for the study. The overall pooled prevalence of convergence insufficiency was 7.98%, and the heterogeneity between the studies was highly significant P < 0.0001. Majorities of the studies 12(80%) reported that office-based vision therapy is the most effective treatment of CI, form those studies 5(42.0%) highlighted that office-based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement is the best modality of treatment. Whereas, home-based pencil push-up therapy, vision therapy with modified refractive correction, and vision therapy with prismatic correction were reported as effective treatment options for CI. The reviewed studies showed that vision therapy is highly effective to recover from symptomatic CI in both adults and children. Conclusion: The prevalence of convergence insufficiency was high, there was highly significant heterogeneity between the reviewed studies. Office-based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement is the best modality of treatment, followed by home-based pencil push-up therapy, vision therapy with modified refractive correction, and vision therapy with prismatic correction. There is consensus among reviewed studies that vision therapy is highly effective to recover from symptomatic CI in both adults and children.

Clinical features of Sudanese patients presenting with binocular vision anomalies: A hospital-based study.

Binocular vision anomalies are major causes of asthenopia symptoms, particularly among the younger population. This study aimed to report the clinical characteristics of Sudanese patients with binocular disorders who attended the orthoptic clinic at Al-Neelain Eye Hospital. In this retrospective hospital-based study, we analyzed data from 304 patients with binocular vision anomalies who visited the orthoptic clinic between October 2020 and June 2021. We collected information on demographics, symptoms, and eye tests such as visual acuity (VA), refractive error (RE), angle of deviation, and the assessment of fusional vergence. Our findings indicated that exophoria was the most common binocular vision anomaly, affecting 79.8% of males and 71.6% of females (p=0.731). Children between 6 and 17 years old showed the highest prevalence of exophoria (75.9%) (p=0.0001). Among patients with exophoria, 100% reported itching associated with tearing during fixation, while 89.5% experienced difficulty in fixation. Refractive error varied by the type of binocular vision disorders (p=0.0001), with higher hyperopia observed in cases of unilateral esotropia and alternate esotropia (+3.571±1.238 D and +3.023±1.553 D, respectively). Positive fusional vergence (PFV) differed by types of binocular vision disorders (p=0.0001) with high PFV in esophoria (18.063±6.848∆) compared to low PFV in exophoria (12.80±5.313∆). The most common types of exophoria were convergence weakness exophoria (45.39%), followed by convergence insufficiency (20.39%). The study concluded that exophoria was the most common binocular vision anomaly among Sudanese patients, with convergence weakness and convergence insufficiency being the predominant anomalies. Headache was commonly prevalent among patients with binocular vision problems. Higher hyperopia was found in esodeviation, while low PFV was associated with exodeviation.

Sustainable fashion with elements of the Bulgarian national garb–reducing, reusing and recycling through mulage method

A Communication from the European Commission in Brussels, dated 30 March 2022, to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, presents an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles as a standard. In line with the strategy, this paper is aimed at creating women’s clothing with elements of the Bulgarian national garb, bearing the characteristics of sustainable fashion. The design and manufacturing of the models is realized through the methods upcycling and mulage, looking for the effect of 3’R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The models are segmented appropriately to combine several products in a common vision. The artistic design is realized trough image creation and processing software. The technology was developed with graphics software.

The Role of Leadership in Decision Making and Team Building

The role of leaders in decision making is very important and strategic. In a study, it was revealed that leaders have a distinctive leadership style, which often becomes a pattern in decision making. Usually, a manager uses several different leadership styles in the decision-making process. The leadership style used by a leader or manager can determine the strengths and weaknesses of the decision maker. Even with the same information, decisions can be made with different leadership styles. This explains why different managers can make different decisions. This article was conducted through a literature study with a qualitative approach. The researcher collected data sources by accessing various literature, information, and other sources available in the library collectionLeaders play an important role in building effective teams. In building a team, leaders must strive for a common vision and maintain fairness and norms of reciprocal relationships in their minds. Leaders should design the formation of effective work teams by considering the ideal team composition. Each individual in the organization must have the awareness that "teamwork" and "network" are important things to build in the team. Leaders must be able to direct their team to remain solid, help each other, be the mediator when problems occur, find solutions when facing problems, and exchange ideas with each other.

Business strategy pathways for short food supply chains: Sharing value between consumers and producers

Short food supply chains play a vital role in connecting local producers with consumers, promoting sustainability, supporting local economies, and providing access to fresh, high-quality products. However, their market is still underdeveloped due to the mismatching between consumer demand and producer supply.The aim of this work is to identify a common vision between producers and consumers in short food supply chains proposing key actions for an effective business strategy to improve alternative food systems at a territorial level. The strategic long-term vision to foster short food supply chains is based on a direct farmer-to-retailer model. Grounded on the case of an ancient grains supply chain located in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, this research relies on a mixed-method approach including quantitative and qualitative methodologies. A household survey conducted with a representative sample of 1122 Italian households allowed to identify four consumer profiles. Then, two focus groups conducted with 10 food supply chain stakeholders led to the identification of six thematic areas of action. By the backcasting methodology, ancient grains supply chain actors proposed a set of business actions to reach consumers' preferences. Finally, a two rounds Delphi conducted with 23 food supply chain experts allowed to validate the results and the 18 actions to be adopted from 2023 to 2030 for the business strategy pathway. The business strategy pathway can increase the local market presence of ancient grain products, helping producers to plan future business activities and disclose changes in consumer preferences or market conditions.

Towards a common vision? Populist radical right parties’ positions on the EU common foreign and security policy towards Russia

ABSTRACT The growth of populism in the EU member states, as a large-scale internal challenge to the European integration project, has a projection on foreign policy of both national states and the European Union. The EU foreign policy, towards Russia, is the area where the deviation of populist programs and strategies from the positions of the mainstream is most clearly manifested. In this regard, it is necessary to determine the foreign policy orientations of the populist radical right parties of the EU member states regarding the EU foreign policy, towards Russia, and opportunities for their synchronization. The main conclusion of this research is that populist foreign policy orientations highlight the internal heterogeneity of the populist phenomenon. Populism in power and in opposition does not have the capacity to change the EU’s foreign policy towards Russia. The nature of populism as an ideology, the instrumental use by right populists of the ‘theme of Russia’ for ‘internal consumption’ and their mainstreaming in power are a significant barrier to the real challenge of the EU policy towards Russia.

Learning Organization on Technological Company in Beijing, China: Perspective of ABC Company Employees

Background and Aim: Learning organizations incorporate knowledge to improve workforce behavior and address societal, competitive, and economic challenges, adapting management styles and innovations to maintain competitive advantages. This research aims to investigate the level of the opinion of employees on the learning organization of ABC Company in Beijing, China, and to study the guidelines to improve the learning organization of ABC Company in Beijing, China. Materials and Methods: This research is a quantitative research method. The ABC Company is a technological company which was located in the company in Beijing, China. The number 323 employees of CCIC Company are identified as the sample size for this study. The questionnaire was used as the research tool. The statistical parameters, such as the mean and standard deviation, were utilized to analyze the data and determine the presented information. Results: Beijing employees highly value ABC Company's learning organization, promoting self-determination, innovation, cooperation, and risk-taking. Key factors include team learning, open-minded thinking, commitment, system thinking, and vision sharing. Continuous learning is crucial for organizational success. Conclusion: Beijing employees value ABC Company's learning organization, promoting self-determination, innovation, cooperation, and risk-taking for organizational success. A learning organization should develop employees with a common vision, foster creativity, and collaborate, ensuring knowledge exchange and self-tests. Innovation capability is essential in using new technologies, supporting personnel, and promoting business exchange.

No-reference shadow detection quality assessment via reference learning and multi-mode exploring

Shadow detection is a common computer vision task that identifies the location of shadows. It has been used as a key primitive for many high-level tasks such as object segmentation and video tracking. Due to the complexity and variety of shadows, it is challenging to design a one-size-fits-all shadow detection algorithm in real-world scenarios. Instead, it is often necessary in practice to pick the best shadow detection algorithm for a particular vision application. While shadow detection algorithms can be assessed by comparing the detected shadow with the ground truth, such ground truth is often unavailable in real-world vision systems consistently generating new data. In this paper, we propose a no-reference shadow detection quality assessment network (NSDQA-Net) to rank shadow detection algorithms without needing the ground truth. For a given image, the proposed assessment network first learns a reference map that compensates the false positives and false negatives of multiple input shadow detection algorithms. The reference map, as well as the original image and the input shadow detection results, are then used to regress the quality scores of the shadow detection methods. Our framework supports the assessment of one, two, or multiple algorithms in a single run, making it easier for deployment in practical scenarios. Experiments results show that the proposed network achieves optimal accuracy in no-reference shadow detection assessment. Relying on it for adaptive algorithm selection also improves the performance of shadow detection using a fixed algorithm on benchmark datasets.

Indonesian Maritime Diplomacy

This article discusses why the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is significant for Indonesia and how Indonesia plays a strategic role in IORA to realize national interests and advance its vision as the World Maritime Axis? In answering these questions, we build arguments based on Christian Le Miere's theory of maritime diplomacy and Helen Milner's theory of international cooperation. The argument in this article consists of two things. First, IORA is very significant for Indonesia because the organization has a common vision with Indonesia's national interest. Second, in order to achieve this goal, the Indonesian government utilizes cooperative and persuasive maritime diplomacy as a means of enhancing international cooperation. This is demonstrated by Indonesia's involvement in encouraging negotiations and facilitating cooperation in the IORA forum. This is also reinforced by Indonesia's election as chair of IORA for the period 2015 to 2017 as a manifestation of Indonesia's existence as a maritime country in the international arena.

The Impact of Positive Discipline on Students’ Well-being and Academic Achievement: A Case of International School in Cairo

This research is designed to identify the scope of positive discipline implementation as a classroom management approach in Groupe Scholaire Oasis (an international School in Cairo City) by investigating PD's impact on students’ well-being, and academic achievement. The literature review covered in this research shed light on classroom management, and positive discipline as a classroom management approach and its relation to students' well-being and academic achievement. To explore how positive discipline as a Classroom Management Approach impacts students’ well-being and academic achievement, researchers used the “Quantitative Method” by applying questionnaires to samples of students from two different age groups: (1) 233 students from grades 3 – 5 (20 % of the whole population), and (2) 367 students from grades 6 – 12 (20 % of the whole population). The Social Sciences Statistical Package SPSS ver.22 was used to perform statistical analyzes. "Mann-Whitney test" for the independent groups was used to examine the equivalence in the Positive Discipline Scale between the group of students, and its significance was verified by the value of (U). In addition, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to find the correlation between the Positive Discipline variable and the achievement variable for students. Data analysis has indicated that "PD has a positive impact on students from the two different age target groups" with regard to the three variables: PD seven abilities, student: well-being, and approach to learning (ATL) skills. On the other hand, PD’s impact on students’ well-being and academic achievement differs according to age. The results have indicated that the 3 - 5 grades group was superior to the 6 - 12 grades group with regard to: PD Seven Abilities, Student: Well-Being, and Approach to Learning (ATL) Skills. In this context, the researchers recommended raising awareness between administrators, teachers, and parents in coordination with the various administrative authorities to spread the idea and principles of positive discipline, creating a common vision between stakeholders, adopting a strategic governance model that allows continuous monitoring, evaluation, and review of strategies and action plans, creating a positive learning environment, and building the capacity of all the parties involved to enable them from the implementation process.

Проблемы законодательной регламентации и квалификации пытки в отечественном уголовном законодательстве

The article analyzes the current state of criminal law combating torture in Russia, developed after the July 2022 criminal law reform. The author expresses additional arguments about the introduction of a special article con-taining the composition of torture as a common crime. A common vision of the criminal legal system for coun-tering torture has been formulated. The position on the criminal law identity of torture in relation to particular cruelty has been confirmed; an opinion was expressed on the problems of qualification when using this sign of an objective side in Art. 117 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The author proposes, when using the definition record, torture to abandon the use of the term “moral”, replacing it with “mental” suffering. The author supports and further argues the idea that the composition of torture is formal. Thus, the encroachment occurs against the bodily integrity of the victim. The idea of the presence of the subject of the crime in Part 4 of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and part 3 of Art. 302 of the Criminal Code of the Rus-sian Federation is substantiated. The author believes that when qualifying Part 3 of Art. 302 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation cannot ignore the fact that the perpetrators can commit an act not only for the purpose of obtaining information, but also for the physical receipt of objects. In conclusion, the authors propose a draft article of the criminal law, concerning the independent criminalization of torture as a general criminal offence.

Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmen Adaylarının Küresel Yetkinlik Düzeylerinin Belirlenmesi

Many positive or negative changes occurring in the global era force countries to take the necessary steps to sustain social life and create healthier and more harmonious societies. In this context, especially under the leadership of the United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals were adopted with the participation of 193 countries in 2015. One of the competences related to the individual accepted within the scope of these goals is global competences that reveal the need to be a global citizen. Global competence is defined as the ability to examine local and global problems, to understand, respect and appreciate different perspectives, to communicate and interact openly and effectively with individuals from different places and cultures, and to take action for sustainable development as a common vision. The purpose of this study is to determine the global competence levels of pre-service social studies teachers in terms of variables such as gender, grade level, level of interest in global issues, frequency of following global issues and level of knowledge about global issues. Descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The population of the study consisted of a total of 216 pre-service social studies teachers studying at Anadolu University Faculty of Education, Social Studies Teacher Education Undergraduate Programme in the autumn term of the 2022-2023 academic year, including 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. The Global Competence Scale developed by Brantley-Todd (2017) and adapted into Turkish by Karaca-Akarsu and Özdemir (2021) was used as a data collection tool in the study. SPSS 24 programme was used for the analysis of the scale items. As a result of the research, according to the descriptive analyses of demographic variables, it was found that the level of interest of pre-service social studies teachers in global issues, their level of knowledge about global issues and their frequency of following global issues were at medium and high levels; however, the global competence levels of pre-service social studies teachers did not differ significantly in terms of variables such as gender, grade level, level of interest, frequency of following and level of knowledge.