Human Relations Research Articles

Analysis of Conflict and Challenges in the Hospital Environment that Impact the Patient’s Exercise of Private Autonomy

Objective: This article aims to investigate conflict and the challenges present in the hospital environment, seeking to understand its possible impacts on the construction of the patient's private autonomy. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is based on the idea that conflict is inherent to human relationships and, therefore, its elimination is not sought, but rather its transformation. Thus, a view of conflict is presented that goes beyond the traditional negative view, highlighting its positive potential, based mainly on the ideas of authors such as Morton Deutsch and John Nash. Method: Using the theoretical, legal-descriptive methodology, mediation will be presented as a potential method for dealing with conflicts between doctors and patients. Results and Discussion: The results obtained in the research are presented throughout the text, mainly through examples, which will also reinforce the understanding of the topic and its relevance, since this subject is valuable for raising reflections on how such conflicts can be dealt with cooperatively, ensuring greater respect for the self-determination of those involved. Research Implications: The research covers theoretical and practical contributions that can promote the application of mediation in the medical-hospital context, as a viable means of treating and resolving conflicts between doctors, patients and their families. The insertion of mediation in this environment seeks to create a more collaborative and humanized space, where the parties involved can dialogue in a transparent and respectful manner, with the objective of finding solutions that meet the interests of all, preserving both the rights of patients and the autonomy and responsibility of health professionals. Originality/Value: The work provides relevant data for thinking critically and reflexively about the most appropriate methods for treating and resolving conflicts between doctors and patients, in order to contribute to the preservation of the patient's private autonomy, especially in cases of decision-making in ongoing health treatments.

Folkloric Imagery and Revolutionary Vision in Kofi Anyidoho’s A Harvest of Our Dreams: With Elegy for the Revolution

Folklore is one of the core cultural values in traditional societies and writers who are conscious of its aesthetic relevance deploy it in their creative works. Folktale elicits imagery which underscores the relationship of humanity with nature and mythical elements. Writers exploit this relationship to establish traditionalism and pursue revolutionary vision in their works. Anyidoho uses his affiliation to, and understanding of, the Ewe cultural (one of the traditional societies in Ghana) milieu to comment on issues that are germane to the existence of the people in A Harvest of Our Dreams: With Elegy for the Revolution. This paper, through examination of some of the poems in the collection with Raymond Williams’s Cultural Materialism revealed that the poet, with poetic devices, uses folklore and traditional images to advocate for revolution in his society. The paper comes to the conclusion that the poems in the collection are replete with folklore and traditional imagery, which the poet deploys with poetic essence to satirise failings in his society.

O RAPTO DA MENINA DOURADA REDES SOCIAIS, MANIPULAÇÃO DA OPINIÃO PÚBLICA E ATRAÇÃO PELO GROTESCO NO EPISÓDIO THE NATIONAL ANTHEM, DO SERIADO BLACK MIRROR

Created by british screenwriter Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror is an anthology science fiction series launched in 2011 by Channel 4. The episodes, which do not feature characters and fixed frames, are driven by the increasingly frequent mediation of human relations by social networks and technology, represented by the “black mirror” common to all devices – the screen. The National Anthem episode, corpus of this article, will be used to investigate some themes, among which the strength of social networks; the attraction of the public by the grotesque and the manipulation of public opinion in today’s mediatized society.

Sustainability of Digital Friendship: Insights from Early Buddhist Mettā

One of the significant effects of technology on human relations is visible in friendship. Positively technology through its digital spaces is facilitating friendship that is instant and beyond the limitations of time and space. However, such digital friendships that operate through social media often suffer from issues of trust and sustainability. To resolve this predicament, we need to pause and reflect on how digital friendship can be reframed to improve its sustainability in a practical manner. The primary purpose of this article is to examine how helpful the early Buddhist concept of mittatā (friendship) is in sustaining friendship in the digital age. The article begins by eliciting the moral challenges people encounter in online friendships. The objective is to highlight the need for a more vital concept of friendship, such as the early Buddhist concept of mittatā, that can mitigate the moral concerns in digitized friendship, making it genuine and sustainable. The subsequent part of the article offers an overview of some of the significant theories of friendship upheld in the West and examines whether they can support the sustainability of a digitized friendship. The objective is to reflect upon the lacuna in the practice of such ideas of friendship in the contemporary digital age. To replenish the lacuna, the following section articulates the early Buddhist concept of mittatā as a noble concept of friendship that can be morally relevant and sustainable in this digital world. Based on the philosophical study of the early Buddhist literature, the present article investigates how helpful mettā (loving kindness) in this society to sustain a trustworthy friendship. It proposes an ethical and noble way to nurture and savour an honourable friendship relevant to the digital era by inculcating specific virtues advocated by the Buddha.

Beyond the 'Protected Area' Paradigm in Conservation: Exploring India's Forest Legislation as a New Conservation Model for Developing Countries.

To achieve global biodiversity targets, expanding protected area (PA) networks has been regarded as a major strategy in international commitments. However, the PA strategy often fails to achieve its objective - preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. In addition, the expansion of PA areas could replicate and amplify historical injustices such as forced evictions, state-led physical violence, assimilation of culture and loss of traditional ecological knowledge, affecting communities' livelihood, quality of life and rights. There is an increasing consensus that the post-2020 biodiversity conservation framework should be rights-based and sensitive to the role and contributions of local communities towards achieving the PAs' targets. India's Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 may be considered a useful framework for biodiversity conservation in the context of this new conservation vision. It puts local people at the centre stage, making them active participants in designing and managing conservation. PAs following 'fortress conservation' approach were based on the flawed idea that human interference endangers biodiversity and therefore habitats should be preserved by force if required. Such an idea contradicts the recent understanding that ecosystems once perceived as 'wilderness', have been transformed by people. PAs undermine the intricate and intertwined relationship of humans with their immediate ecosystem. The conservation model proposed by FRA 2006, on the other hand, recognises local communities as an integral part of ecosystem and thereby acknowledges people's rights and agency in conservation. It ensures locals' equitable benefits from economic activities, and provides equitable opportunities to participate in decision-making. Though various provisions under FRA empowered local people in conservation, it faces various challenges during the implementation on the ground. It is argued that a clear and appropriate institutional arrangement specifying various stakeholders' power, roles and responsibilities in the conservation and management of bioresources (including the protection of endangered species) should be developed for transformative change in biodiversity conservation.

Pragmatism, courage, and ideals of peace in times of war

ABSTRACT After the demise of liberal peacebuilding, the policy literature often views peacebuilding as a project aimed at avoiding relapse into conflict, focusing on prevention, stabilisation and hard security. Also, critical peace scholars have predominantly narrowed peacebuilding down to gradual, small, hybrid, everyday work. There is no enthusiasm for pointing towards new ideals of peace. To this aim, this article engages with the work of the American social worker, feminist, and peace activist of the early twentieth century, Jane Addams, who was the first to theorise what a positive peace may be. According to Addams, a positive peace was about enlarging human relations and already emerging from the ashes of the First World War. Peacebuilding had to be heroic, courageous, and aggressive, substituting the virtues of war. Her pragmatist work is useful for thinking of alternative imaginaries of liberal peace in times when imagination about peace and peacebuilding has dimmed.

THE LONELINESS OF THE DYING

The text "La Soledad de los dying" is a comparative analysis of Norbert Elias's work, focusing on the phenomenon of death and loneliness during the covid-19 pandemic. Elias, a renowned sociologist, explores the experience of death and the impact of loneliness on modern society, emphasizing the fragility of this concept in contemporary times. The work reflects on how death became a privatized and medicalized event, far from family interactions that were common in past times. During the pandemic, many died alone in hospitals, revealing an exacerbated loneliness and a social fragility that previously existed, especially among the elderly. The text argues that the isolation of the dying highlights a weakness of modern societies, which, although advanced, fail to provide emotional and social support in the final moments of life. This analysis is especially relevant in the context of a global health crisis that exposed vulnerabilities in human relations and death management.

Feelings of gratitude to Allah and people and their associations with affect in daily life

ABSTRACT Gratitude has been studied in the context of human social relationships primarily, but relatively less is known about gratitude in relation to a deity. We extended this research by studying gratitude among Muslim American adolescents, an understudied population, by comparing feelings of gratitude to Allah with feelings of gratitude to people in their associations with affect in daily life. Muslim adolescents (N = 202) participated in an Ecological Momentary Assessment study by completing up to three momentary reports each day during three separate weeks. Within-person results showed that both forms of gratitude were positively associated with concurrent happiness and calmness and were negatively associated with concurrent anxiety and sadness, though gratitude to people was a stronger predictor of happiness than gratitude to Allah. Most of the associations between gratitude to people and affect were stronger when youth felt less grateful to Allah, thus supporting a compensation model in which one form of gratitude offsets lower levels in the other. Lagged associations indicated that gratitude to people more consistently predicted greater subsequent feelings of happiness and calmness, whereas happiness and calmness consistently predicted greater subsequent feelings of gratitude to Allah. Results have implications for how distinct forms of gratitude may differentially influence affect.

Influence of Industrial Relations with Ukhuwwah (brotherhood), ‘Adl (justice) and Ihsan (benevolence) among Islamic Universities

The existence of industrial relations with the industrialization drivers has been argued with the persistent competition among different entities, including workers, capitalists, bureaucrats, and authorities, to reduce operating costs while maximizing financial profits. While industrial relations have been relevant through the human resource management of organizations, from the perspectives of Islam, three core values, ukhuwwah (brotherhood), ‘adl (justice), and Ihsan (benevolence) are essential in establishing a harmonious and ethical relationship between employers and employees, which serves as a solid foundation for creating a positive work environment. This study used the grounded theory method through focused group discussion to explore the integration of Islamic values into the industrial relations of Islamic universities. It focuses on insights from participants who emphasized the significance of promoting positive human relationships, incorporating Islamic teachings, and maintaining a balance between procedural work and community-building activities. The study's findings suggest that incorporating these principles can establish a cohesive and morally upright work environment that is advantageous for both employees and organizations. Suggestions for the industrial relations unit, top management, board of governors, and the government involve cultivating strong unity through team-building, maintaining fairness with clear and open policies, and promoting excellence by supporting professional growth and empathetic work conditions.

The abjection of ultrasound

The definitions of sound as found in the ANSI/ASA documentation (S1.1-2013) play an important role in the abjection of ultrasound. However, the threshold of ultrasound is a matter of debate as the enhanced abilities of some humans to sense ultrasound are now being discovered. While definitions and standards are useful for enabling structures of knowledge, they also situate knowledge in power structures, leaving epistemological blind spots in their wake. Particularly within policy making on noise and health this may have palpable consequences in the future. My foci with this paper are not only to map out how anthropocentric definitions of sound contribute to the abjection of ultrasound, but also to address some serious consequences for the human relationship to nature. First, I discuss definitions of sound and present examples of anthropogenic ultrasound production in the environment. Then I survey research on the negative consequences for the environment of anthropogenic ultrasound production. Finally, I show how the abjection of ultrasound is a consequence of our definitions of sound and the accompanying situated knowledge. With tools like resourcification theory and the concept of waste as scat, I then suggest ways in which anthropogenic ultrasound production can be encompassed in environmental impact debates.

Influencing Factors for Sanitary Sewage in Brazilian Municipalities

The objective of this work is to identify the main influential factors for the attendance of sanitary sewage in Brazilian municipalities, through a survey and quantitative analysis of secondary data. The justification is to contribute to a more systemic and integrated view of sanitary sewage services in the country and their potential causes linked to the context of infrastructure in the country. The conceptual framework pre-establishes relationships between total sanitary sewage care and independent variables related to the availability of sustainable inputs/technologies, nature and quality of institutions, human competences, financing, socio-environmental governance and sanitary administration. The methodology adopted is quantitative research, with random and stratified sampling of municipalities, applying correlation analysis and multivariate regression. The results of the research point to a positive correlation between the total sanitary sewage service and variables associated with the physical governmental structure and human relations existing in the health area. On the other hand, they identify a negative correlation with legislation aimed at the ecological, economic and social zoning of the localities, which may indicate that this legal-institutional framework is not being properly integrated into the planning and implementation of sanitation infrastructures and, thus, guaranteeing, in fact, better living and housing conditions for the populations.

Metabolic Cinema: From Hollywood to Socialist China

Drawing on Karl Marx’s ecological concepts of the “metabolic rift” and the “emancipation of senses”, this paper explores an alternative ecocinema that integrates the ecological with the social and the economic. Early Hollywood films, such as Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and The Good Earth (1937), represent the metabolic rift in human relationships as a byproduct of the metabolic rift with nature created in the process of urbanization; hence, they can be regarded as precursors to an alternative ecocinema, which I refer to as “metabolic cinema”. The Story of the Golden Bell (Jinling Zhuan), a comedy film produced during the Chinese Great Leap Forward in 1958, offers an intriguing case for socialist metabolic cinema as a multisensory medianature that participates in and facilitates the metabolic process between humans and nature, as well as the social metabolism among humans, despite the period’s notorious ecological record. The film not only consciously moves away from the visual-centric model associated with capitalist consumerism by using the aural to rectify the once-aberrant visual but also demonstrates how romantic love, as one of the human senses, must be emancipated along with other senses through denouncing utilitarianism and commercialism and, subsequently, returning to need-based labor as the universal condition for the metabolic interaction between humans and nature.

Robin Dunbar: The neurobiology of human sociality

Robin Dunbar is an eminent evolutionary psychologist and anthropologist whose pioneering work has permanently redefined how we think about human social relationships. Dunbar, who is an emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, became world-renowned for, among other contributions, his formulation of “Dunbar's number,” a theoretical limit to the number of stable social relationships an individual can maintain, typically cited as about 150. That idea, which he developed as he studied the relationship between brain size and social group size in various primate species, has since had broad influences across areas from social media design to organizational management. Over time, Dunbar's number has become more widely known and discussed, particularly with the advent of social media and online social networks. This has led to renewed interest in its implications for digital social interactions. Dunbar's illustrious career spans multiple prestigious institutions, including, prior to joining Oxford in 2007, the University of Cambridge, the University of Stockholm (Sweden), University College London and the University of Liverpool. He is a fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Anthropological Institute, a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, and an elected Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His interdisciplinary expertise is reflected in his professorships in psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology at institutions such as Liverpool and Oxford Universities. He has held a visiting chair in statistical physics and computer science at Aalto University, Finland, which has also awarded him an honorary doctorate. Dunbar studies the evolution of social processes in primates and humans, with work that blends neurobiology, cognitive science, and the social dynamics of how we communicate via friendship networks. His insights into friendships and community cohesion continue to shape our understanding of human social behaviour in the digital age. It is an absolute pleasure that Professor Dunbar answered the Genomic Press Interview as we celebrate the extraordinary story of his scientific odyssey with our readers.

The AI Imperative: On Becoming Quintessentially Human

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly automates routine tasks and job roles, organizations must prioritize developing quintessentially human skills that machines cannot easily replicate, such as creativity, empathy, collaboration, and complex problem-solving. Drawing from neuroscience, this article examines how industrial-era education and management practices, with their emphasis on structured, repetitive environments, have historically prioritized crystallized intelligence over fluid intelligence. This focus limits adaptability and innovation, which are essential human qualities in an AI-driven world. Our recommendations include stimulating cognitive flexibility, reimagining strategic planning, optimizing team meetings, redesigning jobs, promoting experiential learning, and fostering human relations. By adopting these strategies, organizations can prepare their workforce for more complex, cognitively demanding tasks, ensuring resilience and innovation in the age of AI.

Navigating the Complexities of Inter-Religious Peacebuilding: Implications for Theory and Practice

As conflict dynamics become complex and escalate globally, especially identity-based conflicts, we are witnessing an unprecedented shift in the Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Peacebuilding field toward contextually innovative and effective community-led approaches. The inadequacies of liberal and neoliberal paradigms and the increase in identity-based conflicts, religious pluralism, and differences in communities have motivated evidence-based inter-religious community-level engagements over the past two decades. These interventions rely on the theoretical frameworks of emancipatory peacebuilding and compassionate reasoning, and reflect an in-depth sense of spirituality, longing, and the essence of human relationship building and practice. This study gathers data from primary sources (which include findings from hybrid interviews) through a semi-participatory and empirical qualitative explorative research process in order to critique the underlying philosophies of traditional paradigms and explore emerging alternatives. It also posits that inter-religious community-led interventions are founded on the emancipatory elicitive religious peacebuilding (EERPb) framework. They are adaptive to non-linear (and sometimes non-scientific) approaches and are less focused on international standards. The framework fundamentally embraces phenomenological, metaphysical, and ethical realities in peacebuilding, operationalizes the concept of just peace, and acknowledges a global approach to peace that offers the opportunity to resolve the difficulties encountered by the various CAR and peacebuilding theoretical schools.

THE ROLE OF OXYMORONS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

In this article the importance of oxymorons is discussed as a rhetorical device in English literature, focusing on how they are used to express emotional depth and thematic complexity across various literary periods. Oxymorons are defined as statements that strengthen opposing words, enhancing comprehension of central human situations. It is proven that how oxymorons expose complex tensions and conflicts in human relationships, often reflecting broader themes of duality and contradiction. Additionally, it examines the development of oxymorons from the Renaissance to modern literature, highlighting their role in clarifying narrative techniques and intensifying emotional impact.

Beyond the Silver Screen: Exploring Future Public Life Through Sociological Film Analysis

This study seeks to interrogate prospective configurations of public life through science fiction films, particularly by addressing the effects of technological advances and changes on society. In the study’s methodology, 27 films were assessed using the sociological film analysis method. In these films, an analysis was conducted on thematic elements, encompassing aspects such as the physical environment, socio-cultural structures, public life, technological infrastructure, and dynamics of human relationships. As a result, a codex of thematic codes was meticulously crafted. The main findings indicate that the films contain scenarios that discuss the boundaries of public space and reflect future social structures. The emphasis appears to be on how and to what extent technology is used. This research presents novel ideas and a platform for discussion for urban planning, architecture, social sciences, and film studies. The originality of this study lies in its analysis of cinematographic content from a sociological standpoint, providing an in-depth perspective on the future of public life and adding a new dimension to the existing body of knowledge on the subject.

The shape of the landscape in the cinema of Matteo Garrone: A review article of Terra di mezzo (Land in Between)

In Matteo Garrone’s filmography, the choice of locations is always determined by a marked interest in physical reality, approached through an authorial perspective aimed at representing the coordinates of a complex system of human relations and the signs of the exercise of power, in its multiple declinations. In Terra di mezzo (1996) Garrone investigates the Pasolinian space of the Roman suburbs, now populated by Nigerian prostitutes and unemployed Albanians. The filmmaker’s gaze here traces fragments of existence in the forms of an excessive, unfinished and oppressive landscape. In this context, the acceleration towards indefiniteness takes on a clear allegorical value, explicitly referring to the condition of precarious impermanence experienced by the protagonists. This article intends to highlight the most significant characteristics of the authorial work on the forms of the natural and human landscape: their selection, the tendency to their allusive and paradigmatic over-signification, the presence, in them, of the lesson of the models.

Paradigm Shift of Social Work Profession: In Context of Indian Social Work Education

The social work profession is founded on a scientific understanding of human relations and aims to support individuals or groups in exercising their freedom and satisfaction within society. It began as a charitable endeavor and developed into a way to shed light on social issues and give people the confidence they needed to deal with life’s unexpected turns in a positive way. As a human services profession, social work addresses micro-to-macro-level societal issues and works to implement necessary reforms. The distinctive core values of social work education, along with its own methodological technique known as the basic along with the auxiliary methods, contribute to the creation of new opportunities for humankind. The development of a PSW (Professional Social Workers) competent cadre through social work education holds the potential to effect tangible changes in society and human existence. However, the main issues with social work education are the lack of originality in curricula and moral guidance for educators and practitioners. The PSWE (Professional Social Work Education) System is primarily related to training methodology, but there have been other issues with social work education as well, like outdated curricula, specialized courses that aren’t relevant, and improper fieldwork components. In order to prepare the next generation of PSW having the necessary knowledge, abilities, and attitudes, the current paper offers insights into the challenges facing PSWE. In order to produce more capable change agents, the paper attempts to shed light on the requirement to update the professional social work education training methodology. This paper also gives an overview of the PSWE development in India, sheds light on the true issues facing the field, and offers solutions for improving the field’s responsiveness to societal demands.

“Discovery Towards Strategy”—Co-Creating an Institutional Innovation Strategy for Digital and Medical Education

Through the pivot to emergency remote teaching during the pandemic, most universities have managed to become ‘digital’, at least in the delivery of educational programmes and business operations. And yet, the purposeful design and use of technology for education is far from the reality of such a pivot and remains difficult to achieve. While most universities outline some level of digital transformation as part of their innovation narrative and strategies, there is only a limited number of universities that adopt the culture of co-creation. This paper illustrates a bottom-up approach to the co-creation of a new digital and medical education strategy in a London-based Russell Group university to bring on change that is fit for purpose. The findings include the key insights, specifically, the five key values of what the community believed to be crucial—(i) broadening access to education, (ii) flexibility, efficiency and convenience, (iii) authentic learning, (iv) business proposition, and (v) pastoral care; and the eight areas of opportunities and challenges—(i) human relationships, (ii) co-creation, (iii) digital engagement, (iv) digital pedagogy, (v) digital literacy, (vi) edtech and IT infrastructure, (vii) support, and (viii) digital assessment and feedback. This paper also outlines the strategic project plans that were generated and since implemented as a result of the co-creation process. The limitations and future directions of this study are also noted.