Current Questions Research Articles

Characteristics That Influence Individuals’ Intentions to Use and Bequeath Common Assets: Time-Perspective Scales and Demographic Attributes

As global environmental problems worsen, there is a concern for future generations who may face an unfairly degraded environment. In this study, we asked individuals from the current generation questions about using and bequeathing a common local asset to future generations in order to identify individual characteristics that influence their intentions to benefit future generations. A total of 960 Japanese individuals ranging from 20 to over 70 years old participated in an online survey. Explanatories include five time-perspective scales based on the psychology literature and demographic attributes such as age, sex, household income, marital status, final education level, and population size. Using logistic regression, we found that altruism was the most significant and positive factor influencing their intentions to benefit future generations. Three other time-perspective scales, namely future neglect, creativity, and generativity, also influenced the intentions, albeit negatively and to a lesser extent. Demographic attributes were generally not found to significantly influence intentions. Finally, we argue that three psychological conditions—time horizon, negative aspects of creativity, and sufficient altruism—could potentially lead people to choose decisions that are more beneficial to future generations.

Infer unseen from seen: Relation regularized zero-shot visual dialog

The Visual Dialog task requires retrieving the correct answer based on detected objects, a current question, and history dialogs. However, in real-world scenarios, most existing models face the hard-positive problem and are unable to reason about unseen features, which limits their generalization ability. To address this issue, we propose two Relation Regularized Modules (RRM) in this article. The first is the Visual Relation Regularized Module (VRRM), which seeks known visual features that have semantic relations with unknown visual features and leverages these known features to assist in understanding the unknown features. The second is the Text Relation Regularized Module (TRRM), which enhances the keywords in the answers to strengthen the understanding of unknown text features. To evaluate the effectiveness of these modules, we propose two zero-shot Visual Dialog splits for verification: Visual Zero-shot VisDial with unseen visual features and Text Zero-shot VisDial with unseen answers. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed modules achieve state-of-the-art performance in zero-shot Visual Dialog with unseen visual features and unseen answers, while also producing comparable results on the benchmark VisDial v1.0 test dataset.

Kepuasan Kerja dan Kinerja Karyawan pada Perusahaan Elektronik di Kawasan Industri Jababeka

Research aim: This study aims to find out, 1) the effect of transformational leadership, competence, and compensation on job satisfaction, and 2) the effect of transformational leadership, competence, compensation, and job satisfaction on performance. 
 Design/Method/Approach: This type of research is quantitative. This study uses a survey approach that describes current conditions and answers questions about the characteristics of variables and the influence between variables. The sample selection was carried out by proportionate random sampling technique against 13 companies with 2.758 employees and a sample of 349. The analysis model used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).
 Research Findings: The results of the analysis found that transformational leadership, competence, and compensation have a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction. Transformational leadership, competence, compensation, and job satisfaction positively and significantly affect employee performance. 
 Theoretical Contribution / Originality: The results of this study enrich the theory of transformational leadership, especially in electronic companies. The results of this study also enrich the discussion of both concepts and theories of competence, compensation policies measuring job satisfaction, and performance in electronic companies.
 Practitioner/Policy implication: The results of this study as a basis for decision-making for stakeholders that the transformational leadership model is very appropriate to be applied to increase job satisfaction and employee performance to increase job satisfaction and employee performance. Increased competence and compensation will increase job satisfaction and employee performance. Employee job satisfaction will improve the performance of electronic companies. By implementing transformational leadership, and paying attention to competence, compensation, and job satisfaction, problems that occur specifically related to very high employee movement can be resolved properly. 
 Research Limitations: This study has limitations. The research sample is an electronic company in the Jababeka Bekasi Industrial Estate, and it cannot describe the general characteristics of other companies, regions, or countries.

Contrasting Ways of Knowing: Overlapping Epistemologies in the Thought and Lives of Ernst Bloch and Rudolf Steiner

abstract: First Theodor Adorno in 1965, and then a second wave of scholars in the 1980s, noted that the philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885–1977) engaged substantially with theosophy, particularly when young. This included Bloch's critique of the new religious movement anthroposophy, which some see as an offshoot of theosophy, and of anthroposophy's founder, Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). I address the lack of English publications on the content of this engagement, and integrate other current questions about Steiner, including the centrality of racism to his whole philosophy. Comparing Bloch's epistemology with Steiner's ultimately reveals much that is irreconcilable, alongside significant points of convergence.

Blockchain-Based Triple-Entry Accounting: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

ABSTRACT Recent cases, such as Wirecard, Luckin Coffee, and Steinhoff, highlight the vulnerability of current accounting practices and question their suitability to prevent criminal behavior. Triple-entry accounting (TEA) is a possible answer against accounting fraud and financial manipulation that is increasingly discussed in research and practice. By being based on blockchain technology, TEA is tamper-proof and, thus, might be an effective instrument against manipulation in accounting. However, despite the potential of TEA, research on this topic is scattered and mostly isolated from each other. By conducting a systematic literature review, we synthesize and summarize current research on blockchain-based TEA. Hereby, we find that current research is almost entirely theoretical. Up to now, real-world implementations and their evaluation are still missing in both research and practice. To address these gaps, we develop guiding research questions for interested scholars to pave the way for TEA’s practical use. JEL Classifications: M40; M41.

Fairness in Graph Mining: A Survey

Graph mining algorithms have been playing a significant role in myriad fields over the years. However, despite their promising performance on various graph analytical tasks, most of these algorithms lack fairness considerations. As a consequence, they could lead to discrimination towards certain populations when exploited in human-centered applications. Recently, algorithmic fairness has been extensively studied in graph-based applications. In contrast to algorithmic fairness on independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) data, fairness in graph mining has exclusive backgrounds, taxonomies, and fulfilling techniques. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction of existing literature under the context of fair graph mining. Specifically, we propose a novel taxonomy of fairness notions on graphs, which sheds light on their connections and differences. We further present an organized summary of existing techniques that promote fairness in graph mining. Finally, we discuss current research challenges and open questions, aiming at encouraging cross-breeding ideas and further advances.

Typologization of modern concepts of metaphilosophy

The subject of the study is the concepts of "metaphilosophy" in the works of several modern domestic and foreign scientists-metaphilosophists. The relevance of the article is due to the presence of a variety of metaphilosophical concepts, which, pursuing one common goal – to understand and explain what philosophy is, come to different and often contradictory conclusions. The article aims to compare the metaphilosophical concepts of domestic and foreign authors (T. I. Oizerman, M. K. Mamardashvili, J. Deleuze and F. Guattari, T. Williamson and N. Rescher) according to certain criteria. Within the framework of the task, it is proposed to identify the essential characteristics of the concept of "philosophy" of the listed authors and to propose a variant of the typology of modern concepts of metaphilosophy. The article uses the method of comparative analysis. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author, analyzing the existing typologies of metaphilosophical concepts (on a conceptual and methodological basis), offers a third variant of the typology in relation to the possibility of progress in philosophy and its prospects. The author draws attention to the fact that the understanding of metaphilosophy in the concepts of the scientists under consideration (Oiserman, Williamson, Rescher, Deleuze and Guattari) reveals interesting parallels and collisions. The author comes to the conclusion that in order to better understand the nature of metaphilosophy, it is necessary to identify the essential characteristics of the concept of metaphilosophy in the concepts of different scientists. The picture of metaphilosophy turns out to be diverse and contradictory, because according to the authors considered, metaphilosophy is "cabinet"; - pluralistic; - "aporic"; - self-reflexive; - dialectical; - is in constant development; - guided by the principles of pragmatism and efficiency; - able to give satisfactory answers to current questions; - is not absolutely rational, but contains an element of intuition.

The relationship between low handgrip strength with or without asymmetry and fall risk among middle-aged and older males in China: evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

This study sought to explore the potential correlation between low handgrip strength (HGS) with or without asymmetry and fall risk in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Baseline characteristic data from participants 45+ years of age and data regarding fall events collected from two rounds (2011-2013) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were utilized for the present analyses. HGS and HGS asymmetry was defined according to the updated American Society of Hand Therapist. Fall events were identified through self- or proxy-reported details. Logistic regression analyses were employed to gauge the potential relationship between abnormal HGS and fall risk. In total, 10 563 participants were enrolled in this analysis, of whom 47.49% (5016/10 563) were male. The proportions of low HGS alone, HGS asymmetry alone, and low HGS with asymmetry were 22.23%, 18.34%, and 22.75%, respectively, in males, but just 3.64%, 35.12%, and 6.62% in females. A total of 693 and 1019 fall events were recorded for male (13.82%) and female (18.37%) participants over the 2-year follow-up period, respectively. Significant differences in fall event incidence among different HGS groups were only observed among males. An adjusted logistic regression analysis model confirmed that low HGS with dominant asymmetry was closely related to fall risk among middle-aged and older males [P = 0.014, odds ratio = 1.332, 95% confidence interval: 1.059-1.676). These results demonstrated that low HGS with dominant asymmetry is a risk factor linked to increased fall risk among middle-aged and older Chinese males. What is already known on this topic Low HGS or HGS asymmetry is been reported to be linked to an increased risk of falls in middle-aged and older adults; however, little is known about the association between fall risk and low HGS and/or HGS asymmetry. Main messages The prevalence of low HGS alone and low HGS asymmetry in men was significantly higher than in women, while HGS alone asymmetry was more common in women than men. The risk factor for the increased risk of falls in Chinese middle-aged and older men is low and asymmetric HGS, rather than low or asymmetric HGS alone. Low HGS with dominant asymmetry rather than nondominant asymmetry is associated with future fall risk among middle-aged and older Chinese males. Current research questions What is the mechanism for the significant difference in the proportion of abnormal HGS components between the sexes? If female subjects with low HGS and asymmetric HGS were added, would an association be observed between low HGS and asymmetric HGS falls? Is there an association between the severity of asymmetric HGS with weakness and falls?

The Position of Women Composers in the World and in Bulgaria – is the Audience of Contemporary Classical Music Privileged or Deprived?

The article addresses the issue of discrimination against women in their work field, which is still relevant today. It contains an overview of the historical development of women in the composers’ profession around the world and in Bulgaria, as well as an outline of the difficulties and accomplishments of famous women composers. The obstacles in the work realization of world-renowned women composers are sought: the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, the Soviet/Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina and the Bulgarian composer Julia Tsenova. An overview of annual statistics on the presence of women composers in the world's concert halls is shown and analyzed. Statistics on the concert program in the major Bulgarian halls are provided. Answers to current questions about the impact of globalization on the audience of contemporary classical music in Bulgaria in comparison with the world state are sought. The term discrimination in the professional music field is defined and researched, and those affected are noted.

Local Statistics of Random Permutations from Free Products

Abstract Let $\alpha $ and $\beta $ be uniformly random permutations of orders $2$ and $3$, respectively, in $S_{N}$, and consider, say, the permutation $\alpha \beta \alpha \beta ^{-1}$. How many fixed points does this random permutation have on average? The current paper studies questions of this kind and relates them to surprising topological and algebraic invariants of elements in free products of groups. Formally, let $\Gamma =G_{1}*\ldots *G_{k}$ be a free product of groups where each of $G_{1},\ldots ,G_{k}$ is either finite, finitely generated free, or an orientable hyperbolic surface group. For a fixed element $\gamma \in \Gamma $, a $\gamma $-random permutation in the symmetric group $S_{N}$ is the image of $\gamma $ through a uniformly random homomorphism $\Gamma \to S_{N}$. In this paper we study local statistics of $\gamma $-random permutations and their asymptotics as $N$ grows. We first consider $\mathbb{E}\big [\textrm{fix}_{\gamma }\big (N\big )\big ]$, the expected number of fixed points in a $\gamma $-random permutation in $S_{N}$. We show that unless $\gamma $ has finite order, the limit of $\mathbb{E}\big [\textrm{fix}_{\gamma }\big (N\big )\big ]$ as $N\to \infty $ is an integer, and is equal to the number of subgroups $H\le \Gamma $ containing $\gamma $ such that $H\cong \mathbb{Z}$ or $H\cong C_{2}*C_{2}$. Equivalently, this is the number of subgroups $H\le \Gamma $ containing $\gamma $ and having (rational) Euler characteristic zero. We also prove there is an asymptotic expansion for $\mathbb{E}\big [\textrm{fix}_{\gamma }\big (N\big )\big ]$ and determine the limit distribution of the number of fixed points as $N\to \infty $. These results are then generalized to all statistics of cycles of fixed lengths.

The role of SPP/SPPL intramembrane proteases in membrane protein homeostasis.

Signal peptide peptidase (SPP) and the four SPP-like proteases SPPL2a, SPPL2b, SPPL2c and SPPL3 constitute a family of aspartyl intramembrane proteases with homology to presenilins. The different members reside in distinct cellular localisations within the secretory pathway and the endo-lysosomal system. Despite individual cleavage characteristics, they all cleave single-span transmembrane proteins with a type II orientation exhibiting a cytosolic N-terminus. Though the identification of substrates is not complete, SPP/SPPL-mediated proteolysis appears to be rather selective. Therefore, according to our current understanding cleavage by SPP/SPPL proteases rather seems to serve a regulatory function than being a bulk proteolytic pathway. In the present review, we will summarise our state of knowledge on SPP/SPPL proteases and in particular highlight recently identified substrates and the functional and/or (patho)-physiological implications of these cleavage events. Based on this, we aim to provide an overview of the current open questions in the field. These are connected to the regulation of these proteases at the cellular level but also in context of disease and patho-physiological processes. Furthermore, the interplay with other proteostatic systems capable of degrading membrane proteins is beginning to emerge.

The Problem of (Un)intentionality in Pedagogy –a View From the Pedagogical Point of View

When we talk about education, we usually mean planned influences that are exerted on the student to develop all his potential on the one hand. On the other hand, the question arises whether there are unintended influences in the education process, whether their outcome is positive or negative, and whether pedagogy also deals with such spontaneous, unintended processes. Therefore, the goal of this research was to examine and analyze the views of pedagogues, associate and scientific-teaching professions on the nature of the influence that is realized within the framework of education. The sample has the characteristics of a deliberate and convenient sample, and it is composed of pedagogues with associate and scientific-teaching titles from two public universities in the Republic of Srpska. The paper used the method of theoretical analysis and descriptive statistics, and of the techniques, the survey technique. The results show that pedagogues, associate, and scientific-teaching professions under education imply a synthesis of intentional and unintentional influences on the student, only a small number of pedagogues consider that the term functional education is inadequate for what it represents and do not give suggestions for its redefinition. The pedagogues think that the (un)intentionality of education is still a current and open question of pedagogy, but not a fundamental one. In the context of the environment, they believe that the family community is a synthesis of intentional and unintentional influence, and the same integrations are not renounced in the institutional environment as well as in the educational activities that took place even in the pre-civilization period. The results can serve as an initial investigation of the phenomenon of (un)intentionality in education and serve as a basis for further quantitatively and qualitatively larger research, but also for the theoretical foundations of all those who in any way discuss the theoretical issues of general pedagogy.

What Integration Discourses “Do”: The Gendered Migratization of Policy Issues and Justification of Welfare Retrenchment

ABSTRACT This article argues that when integration discourses are used in newspaper articles to discuss social policy issues, the issues are framed as being “about migrants” and not as issues that impact the population at large; through this migratization of policy issues, integration discourses are weaponized and may be used to justify welfare retrenchment. Integration discourses have received growing attention from critical migration scholars, who often focus on how the concept of integration reinforces ideas related to the nation-state and issues explicitly related to migrants and migration; however, more general social policy issues also use integration discourses. Against this background, the current study questions what integration discourses “do,” particularly referring to two cases published in local newspapers in Nordland County, Norway: the cash-for-care benefit (kontantstøtte) and adults’ right to upper secondary education. The results show (1) the gendered process of migratization that ascribes general policy issues as “migrant” issues and (2) how integration discourses are used to delegitimize these policies and, ultimately, to justify welfare retrenchment. The findings demonstrate that integration discourses transform the discussion of general policy issues into being “about migrants” with implications for the welfare state at large.

Postoperative Neurocognitive Disorders: the Legacy of Almost 400 Years of History (Review)

The history of the study of postoperative neurocognitive disorders (PND) looks as a long and thorny path of more than 400 years. Despite all accumulated data on PND risk factors and outcomes, there’s still no complete understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of this complication. Moreover, current anesthesiologyresuscitation practice still faces challenges and has pending questions in diagnosis and classification of postoperative neurocognitive disorders.The purpose of the review. To contemplate the evolution in the perceptions of the international medical community (IMC) regarding diagnostic approaches and algorithms in PND management. The review covers the history of development of such PND concepts as postoperative delirium, postoperative cognitive dysfunction, emergence agitation and emergence delirium. Also, the pre-existing and current international classifications of postoperative neurocognitive disorders are discussed in chronological order, supplemented by the analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. The paper also delves into current viewpoints concerning the etiology of particular postoperative neurocognitive disorders, and PND potential relevance for postoperative outcomes.Conclusion. Current algorithms and modalities used for PND diagnosis, are novel but yet not ultimate for IMC in the context of continuous progress in medical practice. Early postoperative neurocognitive disorders remain the most poorly studied phenomena with no approved definitions and diagnostic modalities to identify. It is probably the time for IMC to undertake a joint effort to find answers to current unresolved questions regarding postoperative neurocognitive disorders.

The Contribution of Tourism to the Development of Central and Eastern European Countries in the New Post-Endemic and Geostrategic Context

This study explores an important issue in tourism, namely, the competitiveness of tourism. In the present paper, we aim at analyzing the relationship between tourism and national prosperity. The term competitiveness is a research topic intensively addressed in various fields, and it can answer current research questions related to a constantly changing tourism industry. Thus, the possibility of knowing how competitive this particularly important sector is for the five emerging countries considered in the study, namely, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, allows public authorities and entrepreneurs to estimate the revenues that can generate the field of hospitality. Also, based on these results, a series of national strategies specific to the tourism industry can be founded to lead to the increase of its competitiveness. We used cross-country multiple regression analysis to determine variables that are particularly important for the competitiveness of the hospitality industry, a fact for which the study has a theoretical and practical applicability. The study offers the possibility to anticipate the values of this index (TTCI), thus enabling government and industry bodies to take the necessary steps to increase specific competitiveness in the international market.

The Relationship Between Rural-Urban Place of Residence and Subjective Well-Being is Nonlinear and its Substantive Significance is Questionable

Research on rural-urban differences in subjective well-being revealed inconsistent findings. I argue that the inconsistencies in the literature may be due to very small effect sizes and nonlinear associations. The aims of the present contribution were twofold: (1) to determine the effect size of the relationship between living in rural-urban areas and subjective well-being; (2) to investigate whether categories of rural-urban areas are nonlinearly related to subjective well-being. The present research used data from 507,452 participants from 115 countries provided by the European Values Study Trend File 1981–2017 and the World Values Survey time-series dataset (1981–2022). Self-reports of satisfaction with life and happiness were used to measure subjective well-being. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analysis revealed that, after adjusting for important sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, education, employment status, marital status, and income, the relationship between rural-urban place of residence and subjective well-being was statistically significant. However, the magnitude of these associations (i.e., effect size) was very small or even negligible. Moreover, pairwise comparisons of the estimated marginal means for life satisfaction and happiness revealed a pattern of nonlinear relationships. The results of the current research question the practical significance and usefulness of the relationship between rural-urban place of residence alone and subjective well-being.

Attention-based Image Captioning Assisted Visual Question Answering

Visual question answering has received increasing attention as a multimodal task whose goal is to be able to answer natural language-related questions by reasoning about a given picture. The SOTA model in the current mainstream visual question answering usually uses language bias in the training data to predict the question, resulting in the VQA model often lacking an image foundation. Based on the attention mechanism, this paper designs a method to use image description to assist the training of a visual question-answering model. The model is problem-oriented and encodes images and image descriptions based on a collaborative attention mechanism, which enhances the feature representation of the model and the ability to learn image information, making the model more robust and generalizable. The experimental results show that the accuracy of this method on the dataset VQA v2 has increased by 3.89% compared with the baseline, which proves that the method is effective.

Living Out Confessional Lutheranism: Past Experiences and Current Questions

This Article includes the Introduction by Rev. Dr. Stephen Larson and the feature Paper presentation by Rev. Dr. Gordon Jensen as delivered in Webinar 2 (November 15, 2022) of the Webinar Series “For the Sake of the Gospel” hosted by the Remembering Today for the Church of Tomorrow Project in partnership with Martin Luther University College and Lutheran Theological Seminary. Themes from this presentation appear in many of the articles in this Issue.

Talcott Parsons’s sociology of education: cognitive rationality and normative functionalism

Talcott Parsons did not leave us with a global and consistent sociology of education. Instead, different aspects can be found in Parsons’s oeuvre in different theoretical contexts. This paper summarises these different parts of Parsons’s sociology of education – his writings on the concepts of education and socialisation, the university, the school, the professions, and modernisation – and discusses central criticisms and perspectives for further theoretical development. The paper goes on to argue that the value of cognitive rationality serves as a common basis of Parsons’s sociology of education and that Parsons’s sociology of education should be characterised as normative functionalist. Since the current sociology of education does not deal very intensely with Parsons’s theoretical approach, the paper also considers references to other authors and the relevance for current questions and research in the sociology of education.

Wild Patterns Reloaded: A Survey of Machine Learning Security against Training Data Poisoning

The success of machine learning is fueled by the increasing availability of computing power and large training datasets. The training data is used to learn new models or update existing ones, assuming that it is sufficiently representative of the data that will be encountered at test time. This assumption is challenged by the threat of poisoning, an attack that manipulates the training data to compromise the model’s performance at test time. Although poisoning has been acknowledged as a relevant threat in industry applications, and a variety of different attacks and defenses have been proposed so far, a complete systematization and critical review of the field is still missing. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive systematization of poisoning attacks and defenses in machine learning, reviewing more than 100 papers published in the field in the past 15 years. We start by categorizing the current threat models and attacks and then organize existing defenses accordingly. While we focus mostly on computer-vision applications, we argue that our systematization also encompasses state-of-the-art attacks and defenses for other data modalities. Finally, we discuss existing resources for research in poisoning and shed light on the current limitations and open research questions in this research field.