Requiring Conflict Resolution Research Articles

Structure of Social Forestry Service Area in Cenrana District, Maros Regency

Abstract Damaged road access, absence of markets in some villages, and lack of access to technology are challenges for forest communities in the Cenrana District. Optimising service centres in social forestry (SF) locations can support social forestry activities. Based on scalogram and gravity analysis, the structure of social forestry areas in the Cenrana Sub-district shows Limampoccoe Village as the sub-district level service centre, providing warehousing, commodity distribution, quality control, and packaging and branding services. Labuaja Sub-Village (Laiya Village), Malaka Sub-Village (Cenrana Baru Village), Bululohe Sub-Village (Rompegading Village), and Nahung Sub-Village (Labuaja Village) serve as commodity auction market locations, local trials, counselling, honey cultivation facilities, and processing technology for derivative products such as aren palm, candlenut, porang, and coffee. Road infrastructure and tourist attraction signposts are in Malaka Hamlet (Cenrana Baru Village). Conflicts in Labuaja Village require conflict resolution in social forestry management.

Frontal cortex neurometabolites and mobility in older adults: a preliminary study.

The frontal cortex, relevant to global cognition and motor function, is recruited to compensate for mobility dysfunction in older adults. However, the in vivo neurophysiological (e.g., neurometabolites) underpinnings of the frontal cortex compensation for mobility dysfunction remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among frontal cortex neurophysiology, mobility, and cognition in healthy older adults. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) quantified N-acetylasparate (tNAA) and total choline (tCho) concentrations and ratios in the frontal cortex in 21 older adults. Four inertial sensors recorded the Timed Up & Go (TUG) test. Cognition was assessed using the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test which requires conflict resolution because of response interference from flanking distractors during incongruent trials. Congruent trials require no conflict resolution. tNAA concentration significantly related to the standing (p = 0.04) and sitting (p = 0.03) lean angles. tCho concentration (p = 0.04) and tCho ratio (p = 0.02) significantly related to TUG duration. tCho concentration significantly related to incongruent response time (p = 0.01). tCho ratio significantly related to both congruent (p = 0.009) and incongruent (p < 0.001) response times. Congruent (p = 0.02) and incongruent (p = 0.02) Flanker response times significantly related to TUG duration. Altered levels of frontal cortex neurometabolites are associated with both mobility and cognitive abilities in healthy older adults. Identifying neurometabolites associated with frontal cortex compensation of mobility dysfunction could improve targeted therapies aimed at improving mobility in older adults.

ANALYSIS OF SUDAN'S POST-REFORMATION CONFLICT 2019: SUDAN ARMED FORCES (SAF) VS RAPID SUPPORT FORCES (RSF)

This paper discusses the analysis of the post-reform 2019 Sudanese conflict between the Sudanese military or Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) against Sudanese paramilitaries or Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This research uses qualitative research methods through a juridical study approach to international humanitarian law. This law is a set of rules governing the law of armed conflict, armed conflict is divided into two: international armed conflict and non-international armed conflict. The conflict between the SAF and RSF is included in non-international armed conflicts. Based on ACLED data, this armed conflict has a major impact on aspects of life such as: civilians are fatalities; health facilities are not functioning; children who are unable to access education; until logistical access is disrupted. Thus, this conflict requires conflict resolution efforts using the multi-track diplomacy (MTD) method using the second track using non-state actors as mediators to build the game. Through the United Nations which encouraged the United States and Saudi Arabia as mediators who produced the Jeddah declaration.

Disentangling cognitive inflexibility in major depressive disorder: A transcranial direct current stimulation study.

Cognitive dysfunction is a persistent residual symptom in major depressive disorders (MDDs) that hinders social and occupational recovery. Cognitive inflexibility is a typical cognitive dysfunction in MDD and refers to difficulty in switching tasks, which requires two subcomponents: forgetting an old task and adapting to a new one. Here, we aimed to disentangle the subcomponents of cognitive inflexibility in MDD and investigate whether they can be improved by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the prefrontal cortex. The current study included 20 patients with MDD (seven females) and 22 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) (seven females). The participants received anodal tDCS on either the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) or dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in a crossover design. Before and after the application of tDCS, the participants performed a modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, in which the task-switching rules were explicitly described and proactive interference from a previous task rule was occasionally released. We found that the behavioral cost of a task switch was increased in patients with MDD, but that of proactive interference was comparable between patients with MDD and HCs. The response time for anodal DMPFC tDCS was decreased compared with that for anodal tDCS on the DLPFC in MDD. These findings suggest that cognitive inflexibility in MDD is primarily explained by the difficulty to adapt to a new task and environment, and that tDCS on the DMPFC improves behavioral performance during cognitively demanding tasks that require conflict resolution.

Crisis Handling and Conflict Resolution in Papuan and Local Communities in Demonstration Cases Commemorating the 2019 New York Agreement

Conflicts and crises are situations that cannot be predicted, can come at any time, and cannot be avoided, so crises management actions and conflict resolution are needed from demonstration conflicts to commemorate the New York Agreement in August 2019 in Malang City. The situation that occurs is a government crisis situation that requires conflict resolution and crisis management by Malang City so that crises and conflicts can be muted so that they do not continue. The research to see how Malang City handles this crisis and conflict resolution uses a constructivist paradigm with a qualitative research type. This study aims to find strategies to reduce crises and reduce ongoing conflicts. The method of data collection carried out in this study was an interview with the Public Relations of Malang City Government, supported by data collection, which was carried out through documentation. The Apologia theory and the conflict theory used in this study show that Malang City uses the deny strategy, conciliation strategy, transcendence strategy, and bolstering strategy. Malang City Government also conducts negotiations and acts with the Papuan people who live in Malang, so the strategies used are conflict resolution and crisis management strategies that produce win-win solutions so that conflicts are reduced and not prolonged.

Effect of bilingualism on infants’ cognitive flexibility

AbstractResearch suggests that bilinguals often outperform monolinguals on tasks that tap into executive functions, such as those requiring conflict resolution and cognitive flexibility. Recently, better attentional control has been detected in infants as young as 6 months, thereby providing a possible basis for a cognitive benefit before language production. The goal of the present study was to examine if cognitive flexibility is more advanced in bilingual infants. A detour reaching task assessing conflict resolution, a delayed response task assessing shifting, and a multiple location task assessing maintaining, were administered to 17-month-old infants. The main findings revealed that being bilingual did not improve performance on any of the executive function tasks. Furthermore, current exposure to a second language or language proficiency did not impact executive functioning. We conclude that a bilingual advantage in cognitive flexibility may not be present before children have enough experience in code switching.

Change Is Hard: Individual Differences in Children’s Lexical Processing and Executive Functions after a Shift in Dimensions

ABSTRACT Language comprehension involves cognitive abilities that are specific to language as well as cognitive abilities that are more general and involved in a wide range of behaviors. One set of domain-general abilities that support language comprehension are executive functions (EFs), also known as cognitive control. A diverse body of research has demonstrated that EFs support language comprehension when there is conflict between competing, incompatible interpretations of temporarily ambiguous words or phrases. By engaging EFs, children and adults are able to select or bias their attention toward the correct interpretation. However, the degree to which language processing engages EFs in the absence of ambiguity is poorly understood. In the current experiment, we tested whether EFs may be engaged when comprehending speech that does not elicit conflicting interpretations. Different components of EFs were measured using several behavioral tasks and language comprehension was measured using an eye-tracking procedure. Five-year-old children (n = 56) saw pictures of familiar objects and heard sentences identifying the objects using either their names or colors. After a series of objects were identified using one dimension, children were significantly less accurate in fixating target objects that were identified using a second dimension. Further results reveal that this decrease in accuracy does not occur because children struggle to shift between dimensions, but rather because they are unable to predict which dimension will be used. These effects of predictability are related to individual differences in children’s EFs. Taken together, these findings suggest that EFs may be more broadly involved when children comprehend language, even in instances that do not require conflict resolution.

A Teamwork Workshop to Improve Pharmacy Students’ Growth Mindset and Communication Skills

Objective. To determine the impact of a workshop on the growth mindset and team communication of first year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students.Methods. A multi-week workshop was developed for first year pharmacy students. The workshop included completion of the StrengthsFinder 2.0, a session on identifying individual and team member strengths, a session on situational communication and conflict resolution models, and a work-up of two pharmacy scenarios requiring conflict resolution. The workshop was delivered to two intervention groups (fall 2019 and fall 2018) and compared to a control group (fall 2017). A pre-post survey was administered to measure change in students' growth mindset and team communication using the validated Growth Mindset and Team Communication (GMTC) tool. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t tests, and chi-square tests to compare difference and association. Focus groups were conducted in fall 2017 and fall 2018 to assess students' views regarding teamwork.Results. Team communication subscale scores increased significantly among students in the intervention group while there was no significant change in these scores among students in the control group. The focus groups reflected that students had overall positive views about team communication and collaboration, which were also supported by discussions of advantages and challenges during teamwork.Conclusion. A teamwork workshop affected pharmacy students' communication skills. Future work should focus on longitudinal measurement of students' self-views to determine the long-term impact of teamwork training interventions.

Moderate-intensity exercise boosts the N2 neural inhibition marker: A randomized and counterbalanced ERP study with precisely controlled exercise intensity

A prior session of moderate intensity continuous exercise (MCE) benefits performance during tasks requiring conflict resolution but the specific cognitive process that underlies this improvement remains unknown. Many studies postulate that MCE increases inhibition, but ERP evidence is ambiguous due to significant differences across past procedures. Most importantly, exercise intensity, which modulates the relationship between acute exercise and cognitive processes, might have varied across past ERP studies. Additionally, previous procedures may not have sufficiently engaged the inhibition process during tasks.The aim of this study was to assess the effects of an acute exercise session on behavioral (accuracy, RT) and ERP (N2, P3b) indices of cognitive processes engaged in conflict resolution. Contrary to most previous studies, we determined ventilatory thresholds (VTD) in order to precisely control exercise metabolism. Moreover, to ensure engagement of inhibition we used a flanker task in a version eliciting strong conflict. 18 male adults underwent three testing sessions in a randomized and counterbalanced order: moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MCE), high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE), and seated rest condition. After each session participants performed the flanker task, during which EEG data was collected.Compared with the control condition, exercise between the first (VT1) and the second (VT2) ventilatory threshold (MCE), but not exercise that exceeded VT2 (HIIE), improved performance in the task and increased the N2 component, which is a neural marker of inhibition. The study shows that MCE might directly benefit inhibition and shows the need for more precise measures of exercise intensity in future studies.

Dissociated Components of Executive Control in Acute Hypobaric Hypoxia.

The neurocognitive effects of acute hypobaric hypoxia are still largely unknown. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that executive control, an important component of cognition, is especially vulnerable to hypoxia. Subjects participated in a simulated hypobaric chamber flight to 5500 m. Four auditory tasks were presented before, during, and after hypoxia: 1) Voice, and 2) Name variant of the Stroop task (both measuring conflict resolution); 3) go/no-go task (GNG; measuring inhibition); and 4) two-choice reaction time task (CRT; which is a noninhibitory control task). The Stroop effect increased during hypoxia: in the Voice Stroop it increased from 49.4 to 83.6 ms for reaction time and from 4.1 to 12.3% for accuracy; in the Name Stroop from 43.5 to 82.9 ms for reaction time (accuracy remained unchanged). Accuracy declined from 82.3 to 75.0% in CRT, and from 85.8 to 77.5% (averaged over stimulus types) in the GNG task. Importantly, accuracy decreased similarly to go and no-go stimuli in the GNG task, revealing unaffected inhibition. The findings suggest that tasks requiring conflict resolution are more likely to be impaired than tasks requiring inhibition of response. Furthermore, our results provide evidence for the distinct nature of inhibitory control functions.Takács E, Czigler I, Pató LG, Balázs L. Dissociated components of executive control in acute hypobaric hypoxia. Aerosp Med Hu Perform. 2017; 88(12):1081-1087.

Impaired Response Selection During Stepping Predicts Falls in Older People—A Cohort Study

BackgroundResponse inhibition, an important executive function, has been identified as a risk factor for falls in older people. This study investigated whether step tests that include different levels of response inhibition differ in their ability to predict falls and whether such associations are mediated by measures of attention, speed, and/or balance. MethodsA cohort study with a 12-month follow-up was conducted in community-dwelling older people without major cognitive and mobility impairments. Participants underwent 3 step tests: (1) choice stepping reaction time (CSRT) requiring rapid decision making and step initiation; (2) inhibitory choice stepping reaction time (iCSRT) requiring additional response inhibition and response-selection (go/no-go); and (3) a Stroop Stepping Test (SST) under congruent and incongruent conditions requiring conflict resolution. Participants also completed tests of processing speed, balance, and attention as potential mediators. ResultsNinety-three of the 212 participants (44%) fell in the follow-up period. Of the step tests, only components of the iCSRT task predicted falls in this time with the relative risk per standard deviation for the reaction time (iCSRT-RT) = 1.23 (95%CI = 1.10-1.37). Multiple mediation analysis indicated that the iCSRT-RT was independently associated with falls and not mediated through slow processing speed, poor balance, or inattention. ConclusionsCombined stepping and response inhibition as measured in a go/no-go test stepping paradigm predicted falls in older people. This suggests that integrity of the response-selection component of a voluntary stepping response is crucial for minimizing fall risk.

ReWiFlow

The ability to manage individual flows is a major benefit of Software-Defined Networking. The overheads of this fine-grained control, e.g. initial flow setup delay, can overcome the benefits, for example when we have many time-sensitive short flows. Coarse-grained control of groups of flows, on the other hand, can be very complex: each packet may match multiple rules, which requires conflict resolution. In this paper, we present ReWiFlow, a restricted class of OpenFlow wildcard rules (the fundamental way to control groups of flows in OpenFlow), which allows managing groups of flows with flexibility and without loss of performance. We demonstrate how ReWiFlow can be used to implement applications such as dynamic proactive routing. We also present a generalization of ReWiFlow, called Multi-ReWiFlow, and show how it can be used to efficiently represent access control rules collected from Stanford's backbone network.

A Wandering Mind Cannot Resolve Conflicts in Displayed Information

Human minds often wander around while performing a task. When the mind wanders, attention drifts away from task-relevant perceptual information, leading to deteriorated performance on the task at hand. The current study aims to examine how mind-wandering is associated with different aspects of attentional functions that are critical for perceptual processing of displayed information. Participants completed the Attention Network Task that assessed efficiencies of alerting, orienting, and executive functions of attention. During this task, participants reported their state of mind (focusing on the task or mind- wandering). The results showed that mind-wandering was particularly associated with impairments on executive function, which suggests that an ability to resolve conflicts in displayed information can be impaired when a mind wanders. Our findings suggest that, in work environment where mind-wandering is more likely to occur, tasks requiring conflict resolution in displayed information may be significantly impacted. Mechanisms of mind-wandering and implications in practical settings were discussed.

Task uncertainty can account for mixing and switch costs in task-switching.

Cognitive control is required in situations that involve uncertainty or change, such as when resolving conflict, selecting responses and switching tasks. Recently, it has been suggested that cognitive control can be conceptualised as a mechanism which prioritises goal-relevant information to deal with uncertainty. This hypothesis has been supported using a paradigm that requires conflict resolution. In this study, we examine whether cognitive control during task switching is also consistent with this notion. We used information theory to quantify the level of uncertainty in different trial types during a cued task-switching paradigm. We test the hypothesis that differences in uncertainty between task repeat and task switch trials can account for typical behavioural effects in task-switching. Increasing uncertainty was associated with less efficient performance (i.e., slower and less accurate), particularly on switch trials and trials that afford little opportunity for advance preparation. Interestingly, both mixing and switch costs were associated with a common episodic control process. These results support the notion that cognitive control may be conceptualised as an information processor that serves to resolve uncertainty in the environment.

A conflict-free, path-level parallelization approach for sequential simulation algorithms

Pixel-based simulation algorithms are the most widely used geostatistical technique for characterizing the spatial distribution of natural resources. However, sequential simulation does not scale well for stochastic simulation on very large grids, which are now commonly found in many petroleum, mining, and environmental studies. With the availability of multiple-processor computers, there is an opportunity to develop parallelization schemes for these algorithms to increase their performance and efficiency. Here we present a conflict-free, path-level parallelization strategy for sequential simulation. The method consists of partitioning the simulation grid into a set of groups of nodes and delegating all available processors for simulation of multiple groups of nodes concurrently. An automated classification procedure determines which groups are simulated in parallel according to their spatial arrangement in the simulation grid. The major advantage of this approach is that it does not require conflict resolution operations, and thus allows exact reproduction of results. Besides offering a large performance gain when compared to the traditional serial implementation, the method provides efficient use of computational resources and is generic enough to be adapted to several sequential algorithms.

Africa's Illegitimate Surrogate Wars: Disastrous and Stealthy Cross Border Acts of Aggression That Have Never Been Acknowledged nor Discussed

ABSTRACT The recruitment and arming of dissident groups in neighboring countries has been one of Africa's most significant causes of humanitarian disasters since the end of colonialism. Liberia, Rwanda, and Cote d'Ivoire have been particularly hard hit by externally driven “insurgencies.” The African Union and the international community consistently consider these conflicts to be “civil wars” requiring conflict resolution. What is really needed is heavy international pressure to force the perpetrators to cease and desist and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of neighboring countries through the support of surrogate rebels. Particularly egregious have been the actions of presidents Museveni of Uganda and Compaore of Burkina Faso. The United States tends to follow the lead of the Africans in ignoring the illegitimate surrogate nature of some civil conflicts, thereby indirectly encouraging others with evil intent. The cost of humanitarian emergencies, of course, is borne mainly by the United States...

Improvement of Processing Speed in Executive Function Immediately following an Increase in Cardiovascular Activity

This study aims to identify the acute effects of physical exercise on specific cognitive functions immediately following an increase in cardiovascular activity. Stair-climbing exercise is used to increase the cardiovascular output of human subjects. The color-naming Stroop Test was used to identify the cognitive improvements in executive function with respect to processing speed and error rate. The study compared the Stroop results before and immediately after exercise and before and after nonexercise, as a control. The results show that there is a significant increase in processing speed and a reduction in errors immediately after less than 30 min of aerobic exercise. The improvements are greater for the incongruent than for the congruent color tests. This suggests that physical exercise induces a better performance in a task that requires resolving conflict (or interference) than a task that does not. There is no significant improvement for the nonexercise control trials. This demonstrates that an increase in cardiovascular activity has significant acute effects on improving the executive function that requires conflict resolution (for the incongruent color tests) immediately following aerobic exercise more than similar executive functions that do not require conflict resolution or involve the attention-inhibition process (for the congruent color tests).

Attenuation of acute d-amphetamine-induced disruption of conflict resolution by clozapine, but not α-flupenthixol in rats

Previous research demonstrates that disruption of forebrain dopamine systems impairs the use of high-order information to guide goal-directed performance, and that this deficit may be related to impaired use of task-setting cues in patients with schizophrenia. Such deficits can be interrogated through conflict resolution, which has been demonstrated to be sensitive to prefrontal integrity in rodents. We sought to examine the effects of acute systemic d-amphetamine administration on the contextual control of response conflict in rats, and whether deficits were reversed through pre-treatment with clozapine or the D₁/D₂ antagonist α-flupenthixol. Acute d-amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg) disrupted the utilisation of contextual cues; therefore rats were impaired during presentation of stimulus compounds that require conflict resolution. Evidence suggested that this effect was attenuated through pre-treatment with the atypical antipsychotic clozapine (5.0 mg/kg), but not the typical antipsychotic α-flupenthixol (0.25 mg/kg), at doses previously shown to attenuate d-amphetamine-induced cognitive deficits. These studies therefore demonstrate a potentially viable model of disrupted executive function such as that seen in schizophrenia.

Eeg Coherence between Prefrontal and Posterior Cortical Regions is Related to Negative Personality Traits

Eeg Coherence between Prefrontal and Posterior Cortical Regions is Related to Negative Personality Traits

Stewardship agreement to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD): case study from Lubuk Beringin'sHutan Desa,Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia

SUMMARY Contested rules between the state and local communities over use and protection of forest affect environmental services and livelihood options in Indonesia's forest margins. Success in forest protection and emission reduction (REDD) requires conflict resolution. The recent village forest (Hutan Desa) regulation by the Minister of Forestry (P.49/Menhut-II/2008) details how to reconcile forest management targets and livelihood interests of forest-edge villages within the framework of a permanent forest estate. Lubuk Beringin in Bungo District, Jambi Province became the first village in Indonesia to secure such an agreement. Our analysis of process, stakes and social capital bridging local, district and national scales of Hutan Desa aims to assist in reducing transaction costs for wider application. Streamlining of rules is needed to make Hutan Desa a viable part of REDD schemes at relevant scale, and to support locally appropriate mitigation action as part of national strategies, and as co-investmen...