Relevant Place Research Articles

Student Engagement and the Role of Technology

This paper examines our collective exploratory research on Anthropology and Sociology students at Concordia University. As teaching faculty members at Concordia, we have all observed a significant shift in our student population over the past fifteen years. They appear to be more detached and less involved in their studies, a phenomenon that has piqued our collective curiosity. Our first insight into the possible reasons behind this shift came from Rob Beamish’s The Promise of Sociology (2010), where he explored the relationship between technology and knowledge. Inspired by Beamish, we sought to understand the relationship between technology and students’ performance. At the beginning of this research, we never imagined that the world would be under lockdown because of a pandemic (2020–2022) and forced to rely on technology; anyone teaching at the height of COVID-19 was obligated to use technology, which makes Beamish’s argument an even more relevant place to start. Lastly, we delved into the potential impact of technology on students’ health.

Tradisi “Marhaban” dalam Perspektif Maqashid Syari’ah

This study aims to further understand how the “marhaban” tradition is carried out in Semurup, Kerinci Regency. The focus is to what extent the “marhaban” tradition meets or may conflict with the principles of maqashid sharia. This study is an empirical study with a descriptive qualitative approach. Through this field research, the author will try to explore primary data sourced from the relevant place, namely in Semurup, Kerinci Regency. Data collection techniques are carried out by interview and observation. The data analysis techniques used include data reduction and classification, data presentation, and conclusion. The results of the study show that the “marhaban” tradition is carried out by completing the Qur'an first, dhikr, and prayers, strengthening family relationships, and maintaining cultural identity by involving community members and there is no waste or unnecessary expenditure in its implementation to maintain balance and justice in the management of the property. Parents also get inner peace because they feel they have started their children's lives with the blessings and protection of Allah.

Pituitary Apoplexy: Comorbidities, Management and Outcomes. A Spanish Observational Multicenter Study

Abstract Background Pituitary apoplexy (PA) is the paradigm of endocrine and neurosurgical emergency. Objective To evaluate the comorbidities, risk factors, clinical presentation, pituitary apoplexy score (PAS) and the outcomes of surgical vs. conservative management of PA in Spain. Methods Spanish multicenter, observational study of 301 patients with acute PA. Statistical analyses compared risk factors, clinical presentation and outcomes between the surgical and conservative treatment groups, adjusting for potential confounders. The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with pituitary apoplexy was compared with the Spanish population and with patients with non-functioning pituitary adenomas. Results Median age was 59.3 years, 201 (66.8%) were men and non-functioning adenomas (77.9%) were the most common tumor type. The prevalence of diabetes (20.3% vs 13.9%, p<0.01), hypertension (48.8% vs 33.4%, p<0.01) and dyslipidemia (44.2% vs 23.3%, p<0.01), exceeded the Spanish age-adjusted population prevalence. Overall, 209 (69.4%) underwent surgery and 92 (30.6%) received conservative treatment. Surgical patients had larger tumors (26.2 vs 21.0 mm, p<0.01), chiasmal compression more frequently (77.2% vs 53.4%, p<0.01) and higher values of PAS. In the follow-up, while there were no statistically significant differences in anterior pituitary hormonal deficits between treatments, permanent vasopressin deficiency was more frequent after surgery (14.8% vs 3.3%, p<0.01). Conclusion There is a high burden of cardiovascular risk factors among patients with PA suggesting that metabolic factors may play a potential role in the development of PA. This underscores the need for comprehensive management of these conditions in addition to treating the apoplexy itself in this population. Surgical management has a relevant place in PA approach mainly in patients with higher PAS. However, it leads permanent vasopressin deficit more frequently than conservative approach.

Degrees of truthlikeness, independence, equality and order in probabilistic propositional knowledge representation

Abstract Probabilistic propositional knowledge representation, as here conceived, deals with knowledge representation in the form of probabilistic (p-)valuations of the atomic propositions of a propositional language, of probability (p-)distributions over propositional state descriptions and with their relation. The aim of the paper is conceptual: introducing and illustrating a number of related, normalized concepts regarding both valuations and distributions: degrees of truthlikeness, (internal) independence, equality and order. The backbone of these concepts is the relevant sum of absolute distances. All degrees are in the unit interval and will be illustrated at the relevant place by data about the co-morbidity of psychiatric syndromes (Van Loo et al., 2016). In a new section we illustrate all concepts by an example of weather conditions, to be precise: (not) windy, (not) hot, (not) rainy days in March 2023, in De Bilt (NL). We also briefly discuss some other approaches: other distance measures, covariance as a measure of mutual dependence and various degrees of equality. In the final section we enlist several further research questions and issues, among which the question whether this paper is relevant for propositional probability logics. The paper is highly inspired by the rich paper of Gustavo Cevolani and Roberto Festa (2021).

Perancangan Sistem Emergency Call untuk Pengendara Bermotor Berbasis Mobile

The progress of land transportation, especially motorized vehicles, has a great influence on people's welfare. Currently motorized vehicles have a large contribution to the development of transportation in Indonesia. The increasing number of vehicles always results in problems such as flat tires, running out of petrol or breaking down and the number of these incidents always increases. When problems occur on the highway, drivers always have difficulty finding locations and information about relevant places in order to ask for help with the problems they are facing. This research aims to enable motorized vehicle users to have an Android-based mobile application that is useful for providing location information and related parties to speed up the rescue process. The application that will be developed has a emergency call feature for users to service providers or relevant locations according to the driver's problem. Not only that, this system is also a business platform for those who want to join the merchant feature in it. In this mobile application study, the author will utilize the Google Maps API so that he can search and recommend the nearest place for motorists to seek help. This research was carried out from the analysis, design, implementation, to testing stages.

A proposed dietary policy package for the health sector in Iran

BackgroundInsufficient physical inactivity and an unhealthy diet are significant health risk factors globally. Dietary risk factors were responsible for approximately 16.5% of all deaths in Iran in 2019. This paper aimed to propose a dietary policy package for the health sector to reduce the risk of an unhealthy diet, which might effectively help prevent and control non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Iran.MethodsIn this qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured, face-to-face, and in-depth interviews with 30 purposefully selected experts, including policymakers, high-level managers, and relevant stakeholders, during 2018–2019 in Iran. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed, facilitated by MAXQDA 11 software.ResultsWe developed several dietary recommendations for different stakeholders. These include traffic light labeling reforms, i.e., the need to make the signs large and readable enough through utilizing advanced technology, cooperation with other sectors, promoting healthy symbols and supporting food products with them, food basket reforms, updating dietary standards, adopting appropriate mechanisms to report violations of harmful products laws, scaling up mechanisms to monitor restaurants and processed foods, and creating an environment for ranking restaurants and other relevant places to support a healthy diet, for instance through tax exemption, extra subsidies for healthy products, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) alliances, and using influential figures.ConclusionIran’s health sector has developed a practical roadmap for the prevention and control of NCDs through promoting healthy nutrition. In line with the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3.4 pathway to reduce premature mortality due to NCDs by 30% by 2030 in Iran, we advocate for the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) to adopt appropriate evidence-informed interventions for improving public health literacy and reducing consumption of unhealthy food.

Developing a restaurant recommended system via the Vietnamese food image classification

A recommendation system is a system that recommends products and services to users based on daily online searching habits. The recommender system is applied in many fields such as job searching, health care, education, music, and tourism. However, few studies have combined computer vision and collaborative filtering to build a restaurant recommendation system in the tourism sector. In this study, we presented a solution to build a restaurant recommendation system through Vietnamese food image classification. First, we used ResNet-34 which is a variant of the convolutional neural network to classify Vietnamese food images. Then, the system applied the alternative least square technique in matrix factorization and Apache Spark in distributed computing to train the restaurant location dataset. The output was the most relevant restaurant places list to show many choices to users. The experimental datasets included the Vietnamese image and the restaurant location datasets that were collected from kaggle.com and foody.vn websites. For image classification task evaluation, we compared ResNet-34 to variants of ResNet. For the restaurant recommendation task evaluation, we compared alternative least squares with k-nearest neighbor. The comparison results show that the proposed solution is better than traditional popular models.

Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Seismic Risk and Adaptive Capacity to Earthquake: The Case of Anse-à-Veau (Haiti)

Earthquakes were responsible for more than half of all natural disaster deaths worldwide between 2000 and 2019. Populations in developing countries are the most affected. What can help stakeholders to increase people adaptive capacity to earthquake in a context of very limited financial resources? The perception of seismic risk by the stakeholders and the perception of their adaptive capacity seemed to be able to influence the stakeholder’s adaptive capacity to earthquakes as well as that of the population. Haiti, a country at risk of earthquakes and ranked among the poorest in the world, is a relevant place to explore the potential people adaptive capacity to earthquake. In 2020, qualitative methods through face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 stakeholders in the town of Anse-à-Veau. This paper, therefore, focuses on exploring their perceptions of risk and adaptive capacity, just one year before an earthquake in the region. The results show that stakeholders were mostly aware of earthquake risk. This was identified by their perception of seismic risk related to the zone and the perception of their adaptative capacity to deal with earthquakes. Respondents perceived that some drivers such as self-capacity, motivation, and selfresponsibility can increase their adaptive capacity. Some temporal and physical factors have been highlighted as constraints to stakeholders’ adaptive capacity to earthquake. As expected, training, awareness, and appropriate constructions were identified as effective ways to increase the adaptive capacity of stakeholders and that of the local populations to earthquakes. Currently, earthquake unpredictability was seen as a barrier of preparedness. However, some respondents perceived unpredictability as a factor of motivation for earthquake preparedness. Thus, this observation must be examined to find the way that unpredictability can facilitate stakeholders’ adaptive capacity to earthquake or not. Human resources are targeted as the main resource to cope with an earthquake. Also, training and awareness were recognized as means to increase the adaptive capacity of stakeholders and that of the local populations to deal with such an event, despite the limited financial resources.

Emotional repression in patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatism

Background: A person’s psychological background may support and direct the inflammatory evolution of a disease toward a specific type of chronic inflammatory rheumatism (CIR). Aim: This study aimed to identify a particular emotional profile of patients with CIR, particularly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA), based on psychological profile assessments between patients with and without CIR. Emotional repression, that is, a tendency to inhibit the expression of negative feelings and/or unpleasant thoughts, was particularly studied. Methods: This monocentric observational pilot study included patients from the rheumatology department of a university hospital. These patients were systematically assessed for different psychological parameters by an experienced psychiatrist, and their clinical and biological characteristics were collected accordingly. Data analysis was performed using the Chi-squared test or Fisher’s exact test. Results: Fifty-nine patients were assessed: 47 patients with CIR (i.e., 27 with RA and 20 with SpA) (CIR group) and 12 non-CIR patients (i.e., nine with osteoarthritis, one with viral disease, one with osteoporosis, and one with osteomalacia) (control group). Severe emotional repression and early life events were both significantly higher in the CIR group than in the control group (P = 0.02). In contrast, severe psychological and somatic complaints were significantly higher in the control group than in the CIR group (P < 0.01 and P = 0.01, respectively). Conclusion: Our findings suggested that emotional repression from traumatic life events could aggravate the etiology and/or course of CIR. Therefore, appropriate psychological care should have a relevant place within the current therapeutic options for the clinical management of CIR. Relevance for Patients: The management of CIR should include psychological support as learning coping mechanisms can facilitate the recovery of CIR patients.

Aided-speaking students’ unsolicited questions in teacher-fronted classroom talk: the use of speech-generating devices to ask questions

ABSTRACT Using the framework of conversation analysis, this paper examines aided-speaking students’ unsolicited speech-generating device (SGD)-mediated questions in teacher-fronted classroom talk. The analysis draws on a corpus of 18 h of video-recorded classroom interactions including 23 aided-speaking students using SGDs or picture-based communication boards. In all, 5% of the students’ contributions were unsolicited questions, produced by three students. The students were found to orient to turn transition relevance places, but due to prolonged production time their questions risked sequential and topical misplacement in the ongoing classroom talk and were vulnerable to misunderstandings. To address this problem, students activated the synthetic voice before finalising the question, claiming the interactional floor while securing time to complete their utterance. They also refrained from activating the synthetic voice and instead made the question visually available for the teacher to read, thereby transferring the responsibility for answering the question to the teacher when sequentially and topically relevant. The study demonstrates the complex interactional process of formulating SGD-mediated questions, sometimes requiring that the teacher, assistants, and students engage in repair work and scaffolding to establish the meaning of a student’s utterance. The findings imply that the treatment of non-speaking students’ contributions as questions requires designated teacher work.

Exploring the Intricacies of Neurogenic Niches: Unraveling the Anatomy and Neural Microenvironments.

Neurogenesis is the process of forming new neurons from neural stem cells (NSCs). In adults, this process takes place in specific areas of the brain, known as neurogenic niches. These regions have unique anatomical features that have been studied in animal models and in the human brain; however, there are differences between these models that need to be addressed. The most studied areas are the subventricular zone, the lateral and latero-dorsal walls of the lateral ventricles, and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (Hp), which are known as the canonical areas. Other, less-studied niches, such as the hypothalamus, the cerebellum, and the amygdala, are known as non-canonical areas. Anatomy occupies a relevant place in adult neurogenesis, in which the tissue architecture and cellular location are necessities for the interaction and release of diverse molecules that allow this phenomenon. The cell arrangement within the niche and the location of the niche itself are of particular relevance to the state in which the NSCs are found. Consequently, the majority of previous discoveries have been related to pathology. While many studies are based on animal models, discoveries related to neurogenesis in humans have also been made; however, in this case, opinions vary, leading to extensive controversy in recent years. In this review, we address the anatomical characteristics of the different brain regions to better understand their relationships within neurogenesis.

Quelques remarques sur l’origine des proverbes

This study aims at a thorough examination of the parameters behind the emergence of a given proverb in a given language and at a given time. Proverbs, like lexical items or certain syntactic constructions, are born, develop and eventually disappear. Our reflection will start from the observation that the formulation the origin of proverbs is indeed extremely vague. A proverb is in fact the result of the action of several parameters: a) the sapiential lesson: every proverb rests fundamentally on an implicative pivot of the type ‘if you have P, you have Q’, either to apply it (Like father, like son), or to reject it (A swallow doesn’t make a summer). This sapiential lesson is linked to the culture and beliefs of the community concerned and may not exist in another culture; b) the metaphor used to represent P and Q: it is to be expected, for example, that a culture where the swallow has no relevant place will appeal to another metaphor to represent the sapiential lesson contained in A swallow does not make summer; c) the form of proverbs: studies of sententious forms show that proverbs are generally based on a small number of patterns - around a dozen - which strictly limit variations. These patterns are characteristic of a specific language or group of languages and make it possible to identify proverbs in a given language; d) finally, a significant number of proverbs show rhythmic and / or metrical structures in small numbers. The interesting point is that a sapiential form, even if it doesn’t have such a structure at first, always ends up acquiring one, as we will show with specific examples.

JEZIČKI OBRT OD DžORDžA ORVELA DO KAJICE MILANOVA

As is well known, Karl Marx wrote in the 11th thesis on Ludwig Feuerbach that philosophers should change the world, not just interpret it. What he omitted to say is that the “world” can be changed to some extent through interpretation itself, primarily the part that relates to social reality. The later sequence of events confirmed this thesis, given that the political and ideological struggle for a correct understanding of history or the establishment of an appropriate value system depended to a large extent on which discourse would be imposed. In literature, this phenomenon was neatly treated by George Orwell, and shortly after him, Kajica Milanov also presented illuminating insights on this matter in emigration. The paper provides brief comments on relevant places from the works of these two authors.

"ЕВРЕЙСКИЙ КОРОЛЬ ЛИР" ЯКОВА ГОРДИНА: РАЗГОВОР С РУССКИМ ЗРИТЕЛЕМ НА ФОНЕ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРНОЙ ТРАДИЦИИ

Jacob Gordin [1853–1909] was an influential reformer of Yiddish theatre in first half of the 20th century. His dramatic works were created in the U.S. period of his life, but they were also popular in Russia where they were adapted and directed on the Russian scene. The article focuses on the Russian version of Gordin’s Yiddish King Lear. The play juxtaposes Jewish and European cultural elements and unites Russian and Jewish audiences. Situations of Shakespearean plots happen in streets of Jewish towns and neighborhoods. But at the same time Gordin fills the European plot with Jewish features, such as the polemics between religious movements, ideas about the purpose of man (tikkun olam, pikuach nefesh). The reference to the classical European fabula breaks down the public perception of Jews as a group isolated by the Talmud and rabbis, off the axis of history. In parallel, the text demonstrates to the Jewish viewers that the European world is its own cultural space for Jews as well is a relevant place for them, too.

“We Were Facebook before Facebook”: The Existential (Not Only Economic) Threat to Community Weekly Newspapers in the US

Researchers and practitioners recently have observed the intricate and ever-evolving relationship between publishers and platforms may be reaching a crucial crossroads as each fight for relevancy and profitability amidst disruption in both media industries. This article draws on in-depth interviews with owners and editors of community weekly newspapers in the US to examine how such understudied local news organizations are responding to the threat posed by Facebook. Findings underscore the platform’s impact on these news outlets’ business models, especially how publishers see themselves as competing directly with the platform for a shrinking pot of advertising dollars, but they also highlight how many view the platform as a competitor for crucial content. Having historically given prominence to community-connecting cultural content to fulfill audiences’ “ritual” needs, owners and editors of community weekly newspapers struggle to carve out their own unique identity and stay relevant in a world in which many audiences have come to see their social media feeds as the more relevant place to chronicle their everyday lives. These changes have serious, negative and long-term implications for the survival of these smaller news outlets.

Plant Diversity in Archaeological Sites and Its Bioindication Values for Nature Conservation: Assessments in the UNESCO Site Etruscan Necropolis of Tarquinia (Italy)

In archaeological sites, plants can be a risk for monument conservation. However, in these sites, a refugium for plant biodiversity is often detected, such as in the UNESCO site Etruscan necropolis of “Monterozzi” in Tarquinia, which still holds a Special Protection Area for bats. In this site, we previously evaluated the positive and negative effects of vascular plants on the conservation of the hypogeal tombs. To contribute in assessing the role of archaeological sites in supporting plant diversity and interpreting its bioindication values for nature conservation, we analyse in this relevant place the floristic interest and richness and the plant communities growing on tumuli, trampled, and less disturbed areas. The results revealed the presence of several plants with high naturalistic interest, such as the community’s representative of synanthropic and natural Mediterranean grasslands, which arise both from the present and the past uses of the area. The high naturalistic values of the site are also assessed, considering its remarkable richness of species/area compared with the well-known archaeological sites of Rome. These findings further indicate that plant diversity needs to be considered in planning management activities in archaeological sites to also protect their natural values.

“Davydova Skolota”: a historical-philological note to the text of the Primary Chronicle of Rus

The article examines a fragment of the Rus Primary Chronicle’s entry for 1097, in which the hapax legomenon “skolota” is used in relation with the accusations of Prince Davyd Ihorovych of Volodymyr in blinding Prince Vasylko Rostyslavych of Terebovl. The article analyses the tradition of interpretation of this word in the late medieval and early modern texts, namely chronicle compilations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as well as in Vasilii Tatischev’s historical work. It has been demonstrated that the authors or scribes of these texts did not understand the word “skolota” precisely. They tried to replace it with another expression, rephrase the phrase, or simply shorten this fragment of the Primary Chronicle. The versions of the translation of the relevant place of the text in modern scholarly translations into different languages are reviewed. In most cases, scholars have interpreted the word “skolota” and the relevant passage of the chronicle based on a general understanding of the context and artistic taste. The possible origin of the word is examined. Its place in the chronicle narrative, specifically in the context of the characters’ direct speech. The authors conclude that the word “skolota” has a Slavic etymology and is one of the relics of the Kyivan Rus elite’s vernacular.

The role of iconic places, collective efficacy, and negative emotions in climate change communication

Communication strategies designed to strengthen individual and community climate action play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and averting worst-case climate scenarios. However, communicating climate change in a way that motivates action remains a significant challenge. Through two experimental surveys with representative samples of Australian residents (n1 =723, n2 =729), we investigated whether climate messages that highlight relevant and iconic places, such as the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), could strengthen individual action on climate change and if so, what messages are most effective in motivating climate-related behaviour. Participants were randomly allocated to receive one of eight messages about climate change and/or the GBR, or a control condition. In Study 1, we found that climate messages centred around the GBR are more effective in strengthening intentions to adopt energy reduction behaviours than generic (non-reef) climate messages when compared to control. However, we find that they are limited in their ability to motivate more impactful civic and social behaviours, including those which seek to influence climate policy support. In Study 2, we found that messages emphasising collective efficacy can enhance message effect and influence the uptake of a broader range of behaviours, both intentions and in situ behaviour. Mediation analysis suggests that this effect was largely driven by emotions related to distress and that place identity and positive emotions did not play a significant role. This research offers an alternative for those looking to expand beyond traditional climate communication strategies and has implications for both theory and practice.

Perspectives on Religious History in Early Modern Portugal: Problems, Historiographic Production and Challenges

This article aims to outline a panoramic view of the paths taken by researchers, in the last 15 years, in the field of the religious history of the Modern Period in Portugal. Starting from the identification of the scientific production and activities that have achieved a more relevant place in the framework of the study of the religious history in early modern Portugal, since the 1950s, this article draws attention to a set of subjects that urgently need to be debated. It will be argued that research in the area in question continues to constitute a challenge. The focus of this article is the European space of Portugal, not considering productions and research about Portuguese imperial spaces, namely Asia and Brazil.

CO2 emissions from service sectors in Ecuador: an analysis using input–output subsystems

AbstractEcuador is one of the most megadiverse countries in the world and a pioneer in establishing some regulations to take care of its environment. Despite this, its levels of pollution and environmental deterioration are higher than those of neighboring countries. A better understanding of the pollution channels of a subsystem such as services, which increasingly occupies a more relevant place in the economy and many of its activities tend to go unnoticed as a source of pollution, allows the development of mitigation strategies that could be analyzed and adopted for similar contexts. We estimated direct and indirect emissions for the 71 economic activities of Ecuador and applied an input–output subsystem analysis, breaking down the generation of total CO2 emissions (direct and indirect) of the 18 activities that make up the services subsystem into 6 sources. Total emissions of the services subsystem were a third of the emissions for the year 2018. Although it is known that transport is a well-known relevant actor in overall CO2 emissions, our decomposition provides a clearer view of the direct and indirect pollution channels of other relevant service sectors. We detect several service sectors with an insignificant level of direct CO2 emissions and a high level of total emissions. This is the case of trade services, real estate services, services provided by professionals, telecommunications or the government public administration. These sectors induce the generation of emissions from other sectors inside and outside the services subsystem. The results inform the design of policies to mitigate CO2 emissions in Ecuador.