Michael A. Petersa and Fazal Rizvib aBeijing Normal University, Beijing, PR China; bMelbourne University, Melbourne, Australia Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to ‘no...

At almost every election, Americans are inclined to say that this is the most consequential election in American history. 2020 is no exception. However, what is particularly remarkable about the No...

In Book 2 of The Peloponnesian War, the ancient Greek historian Thucydides describes the Plague of Athens which killed an estimated 75,000 people in 430 BC, the second year of the war. Thucydides i...

In the World Library of Educationalists, international experts compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field. This volume brings together the selected works of Fazal Rizvi.Born in India, Fazal (...) Rizvi has lived and worked in a number of countries, including Australia, England and the United States. Most of his educational encounters have been 'in the global'. He has developed a keen sense of the multiple and conflicting ways in which transnational ties and interactions are transforming the spaces in which identities and cultures are forged and performed, and in which education takes place. Much of his research has sought to examine how educational systems around the world have interpreted and responded to the challenges and opportunities of globalization. In this collection of his papers, written over a period of more than two decades, Fazal Rizvi seeks to understand the shifting discourses and practices of globalization and education, critically examining the ways in which these are:reshaping our sense of identity and citizenship, and our communitiescreating transnational systems of ties, networks and exchangetaken into account in the development of policies and programs of educational reform producing uneven social effects that benefit some communities more than others.Fazal Rizvi's analysis shows how recent global transformations have mostly been interpreted through the conceptual prism of a neo-liberal imaginary that have undermined education's democratic and cosmopolitan possibilities. (shrink)

At almost every election, Americans are inclined to say that this is the most consequential election in American history. 2020 is no exception. However, what is particularly remarkable about the No...

What is it about conspiracies that make them so attractive and easy to believe yet difficult to debunk? Is the epistemological process of debunking the best or only pedagogy for dislodging conspiracies? Are all conspiracies irrational and/or unverifiable? To what extent, if at all, do today’s social media conspiracies differ from conspiracies in the past?

It is no secret that one of the biggest public health challenges facing this nation is the obesity epidemic. Two-thirds of adults and one-third of children and teens are either obese or overweight. For adults, the number of obese has doubled since 1980, and for children age 6-11 the number of obese has quadrupled. The epidemic has changed what we thought we knew about medicine. For example, until fairly recently, type 2 diabetes was known as “adult-onset” diabetes. But doctors have (...) dropped this moniker as youth account for almost half of new type 2 diabetes in certain communities. Further, there has always been an assumption that life spans and health would improve with advancements in medicine and technology. However, obesity is related to over 20 major chronic diseases, and therefore obese children are more than twice as likely to die before the age of 55 compared to healthy-weight children. In other words, if trends are not reversed, America’s current generation of children are likely to have shorter life spans than their parents. (shrink)

The rapid growth of pharmaceutical markets in the 20th century has increased the demand for human research participants in clinical trials. However, with the globalization of clinical research, most clinical trials are conducted in low-income countries (LICs) with political and economic instability, and lack of basic healthcare, but easy access to human subjects. This paper explores the unique ethical challenges faced during the pre-enrollment phase of cross-cultural research in a country like Pakistan, and how these challenges make the Pakistani population (...) vulnerable to exploitation. It also outlines recommendations regarding conducting research in Pakistan within ethical parameters adopted according to local culture. This discussion is important because researchers must focus on the pre-enrollment phase of the research process for it’s cultural suitability and acceptability so that the research conducted is credible and valid and has social value for the research population. (shrink)

What will be the consequences of the criminalization of aggression? In 2010, the International Criminal Court made aggression a crime for which individuals can be prosecuted. But questions around what constitutes aggression, who decides, and, most important, how effective this legal change will be in reducing the incidence of war remain. This essay considers these questions in light of two recent books on the criminalization of aggression: Noah Weisbord'sThe Crime of Aggression: The Quest for Justice in an Age of Drones, (...) Cyberattacks, Insurgents, and Autocratsand Tom Dannenbaum'sThe Crime of Aggression, Humanity, and the Soldier. While the authors argue in favor of the efficacy of the criminalization of aggression as a means to reduce future war, it is also likely that the criminalization of aggression will reshape war in potentially profound ways. (shrink)

This study explores threats to journalists in Sindh, searching the journalist’s community, allocating its existence through a premeditated survey with directional questionnaire. Consulting 150 journalists to find out the essence, magnitude and targeting aspects of the threats they are facing in wake of their line of duty. Journalists and threats are both enter-linked since the birth of journalism, a journalist is a Watch-Dog or Gate-Keeper, who guards the boundaries of transparency, freedom of expression, sphere of laws and protects and promotes (...) the social values and norms and facilitates political communication to educate and update the citizens. Doing all this in a part of the state where the situation of law and order is deteriorated, the population is heterogeneous in its nature, is a big challenge. Attacks on journalists have been searched from the history of media landscape for last 17 years in Sindh to weigh up the threats to Watch-Dogs. The study generalizes, whether working journalists are serving under pressure in an environment governed by threats or they feel safe and free to perform their journalistic duties. It also calculates the responses of the affected journalists in the outward appearance of complaints they file in connection with the threats faced for their professional work. (shrink)

Purpose: Organ donation and transplantation are practices that are supported by all of the world's major religions, including Sikhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Judaism. Recent developments in the fields of organ donation and organ transplantation have sparked a renewed sense of optimism for the treatment of critical illnesses. The jurists permitted organ transplants on the basis of certain principles, including ownership and categories of property. On the other hand, moralists strive to deny the ownership of human organs by using principles such (...) as faith and Almighty Allah’s absolute authority. Then main objective of this research paper is on one hand to identify and emphasize arguments for and against organ donation and transplantation in the framework of scared provisions of Islam and its corresponding legal requirements and on the other hand to understand and teach the people that not only Islam allows organ donation but also encourage its followers to assist one another and make an effort to promote organ donations in society. Methodology: The doctrinal methodology. Explanatory and analytical research approaches are used in this work. It is worth mentioning that this research study is entirely based on library sources. Most of the sources are reputable and trustworthy textbooks, scholarly published and unpublished journal articles, law reports, and online websites related to the research area. Findings: According to the arguments as well as clear and explicit rulings, principles and authentic evidence from the Holy Quran, it is clear that the donation and transplantation of human body organs is permissible. The Holy religion of Islam persuades its followers to participate in charity, assist people, and donate organs to save the lives of those patients who are waiting for organ transplant. Recommendations: Theoretically, this work is very useful in contributing to the existing body of literature of knowledge. Practically, this work identifies the circumstances in which Muslim jurists not only allow but encourage its followers to assist one another and make an effort to promote organ donations in society in order to save people’s life. It is recommended that both the donor and the recipient of an organ must belong to the same nationality or legal jurisdiction in order to prevent the growth of an international organ trade, which would be far more difficult to regulate. Additionally, in order to protect the health of both the recipients and the donors, it is imperative that transplants from unknown sources be prohibited. (shrink)

In recent years, the notion of a ‘clash of civilizations’, first put forward by Samuel Huntington (1996), has been widely used to explain the contemporary dynamics of geo-political conflict. It has been argued that the fundamental source of conflict is no longer primarily ideological, or even economic, but cultural. Despite many trenchant and largely debilitating academic critiques of Huntington's argument, the popular appeal of the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis remains undiminished. In many parts of the world, the binary it describes (...) is often taken to be self-evident, especially after the tragic events of September 11. This paper uses the ideas of ‘social imaginary’ (Taylor, 2004) and ‘political myth’ (Blumenberg, 1984) to understand the popular appeal of the idea of civilizational conflict, and suggests that this appeal is unlikely to be punctured by theoretical arguments alone, but by an equally plausible political narrative located in an alternative social imaginary, acquired through cosmopolitan learning. (shrink)

Computer vision and human–computer interaction are essential in many technological fields. Researchers in CV are particularly interested in real-time object detection techniques, which have a wide range of applications, including inspection systems. In this study, we design and implement real-time object detection and recognition systems using the single-shoot detector algorithm and deep learning techniques with pre-trained models. The system can detect static and moving objects in real-time and recognize the object’s class. The primary goals of this research were to investigate (...) and develop a real-time object detection system that employs deep learning and neural systems for real-time object detection and recognition. In addition, we evaluated the free available, pre-trained models with the SSD algorithm on various types of datasets to determine which models have high accuracy and speed when detecting an object. Moreover, the system is required to be operational on reasonable equipment. We tried and evaluated several deep learning structures and techniques during the coding procedure and developed and proposed a highly accurate and efficient object detection system. This system utilizes freely available datasets such as MS Common Objects in Context, PASCAL VOC, and Kitti. We evaluated our system’s accuracy using various metrics such as precision and recall. The proposed system achieved a high accuracy of 97% while detecting and recognizing real-time objects. (shrink)

This study has examined the problems’ related to communicativeecology of pilgrim sojourners in Saudi Arabia and its impact on the levelsof their satisfaction with the services provided in a probability sample of439 Pakistani pilgrims. The sojourners’ communication ecology in problemsituations comprises eleven communication sources. Of these, contactswith family/friends and co-pilgrims made top of the list followed by suchcommunity organization sources like information counters, tour operators, andthe Pakistani Hajj mission officials. The mediated sources of contacts with theethnic newspaper, and the mainstream (...) Saudimass media ranked the 3rd and the 4th. The Internet and the digital billboardswere each cited in less than 10 percent of the responses. Stepwise multipleregressions revealed that the most important sources of impact on satisfactionwere: contact with community organizations, family/friends and co-pilgrims,the ethnic newspaper, and the digital screens. Implications of the impact onsatisfaction are discussed for communicating with the pilgrims. (shrink)

In this article, complete synchronization and antisynchronization in the identical financial chaotic system are presented. The proposed control strategies depend on first-order sliding mode and adaptive integral sliding mode for complete synchronization and antisynchronization of the identical financial chaotic system. In the primary case, the system parameters should be known, and first-order sliding mode control is utilized for synchronization and antisynchronization while in the second case, the system parameters are considered unknown. An adaptive integral sliding mode control strategy is utilized (...) for synchronization and antisynchronization of the system considering the parameters unknown. The error system is changed into a particular structure containing a nominal part and several unknown terms to utilize the adaptive integral sliding mode control. Then, this error system is stabilized using integral sliding mode control. The stabilizing controller is usually developed based on the nominal part plus the compensator control part. To suppress the high-frequency oscillation phenomenon, smooth continuous compensator control can be used rather than conventional discontinuous control. The compensator controller along with the adapted law is derived such that the time derivative of the Lyapunov function becomes strictly negative. The effectiveness of the proposed method was tested through computer simulations. The proposed control strategies are verified for that Identical 4D hyperchaotic financial system to attain complete synchronization and antisynchronization along with the improved performance. (shrink)

Strategic orientation and innovation are vital determinants for accelerating the performance of small-to-medium-sized enterprises. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence confirming the innovation at the product and process levels that instigated the SMEs’ performance. Moreover, the mediating effect of process and product innovation can play a significant role in strategic orientation and manufacturing SMEs’ performance. In this respect, this study aims to examine the mediating effect of product and process innovation between strategic orientation and the performance of Malaysian (...) manufacturing SMEs. The questionnaire survey gathered data from 360 manufacturing SMEs and was analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling to achieve these research objectives. The study analysis established that customer and entrepreneurial orientation significantly influence product and service innovation. However, the market orientation is significant for process innovation but insignificant for product-level innovation among SMEs. The study’s consequences exposed that process innovation has significantly mediated between the strategic orientation and SMEs performance. It implies that market, entrepreneurial, and customer-related strategies would substantially improve SMEs’ performance by harnessing innovation at product and process levels. The core insights provided by the current work are to strengthen the strategic orientation that can promote product and process innovation, thereby harnessing the SMEs’ performance. Additionally, the study’s significance and limitations were reported at the end. (shrink)

The purpose of this research is to investigate the associations of internal and external support mechanisms with entrepreneurial success, in the context of China's entrepreneurial sector from network theory perspective. The role of digital technology, as a moderator, has also been analyzed. Data has been obtained from 500 entrepreneurs in Jiangsu, a province in China. All hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. It has been found that family support, business partner support, community support and external stakeholder relationships have positive (...) effects on entrepreneurial success. It has also been discovered that digital technology adoption strengthens the positive relationship between business partner support and entrepreneurial success. Theoretical and practical implications have been highlighted and future research suggestions have been provided. (shrink)

As organizations are benefiting from investments in big data analytics capabilities building and education, our study has analyzed the impact of big data analytics capabilities building and education on business model innovation. It has also assessed technological orientation and employee creativity as mediating and moderating variables. Questionnaire data from 499 managers at enterprises in Jiangsu, China have been analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling in SmartPLS. Big data analytics capabilities building and education strengthen technological orientation and increase business model innovation. Technology (...) orientation increases business model innovation and plays a mediating role. Employee creativity also boosts innovation. These findings show that business managers should adopt and promote a technological orientation. They should hire and train employees with big data education and training. Organizations can try to select and support employees who show creativity. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has witnessed an increase and amplification of anti-Asian racism and violence across the globe. Stop AAPI Hate1 in the United States and the COVID-19 Racism Incident Report2 i...

The aim of this study is to explore social media marketing activities and their impact on consumer intentions. This study also analyzes the mediating roles of social identification and satisfaction. The participants in this study were experienced users of two social media platforms Facebook and Instagram in Pakistan. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. We used an online community to invite Facebook and Instagram users to complete the questionnaire in the designated online questionnaire system. Data were (...) collected from 353 respondents, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results show that SMMAs have a significant impact on the intentions of users. Furthermore, social identification mediates the relationship between social media activities and satisfaction, and satisfaction mediates the relationship between social media activities and the intentions of users. This will help marketers how to attract customers to develop their intentions. This is the first novel study that used SMMAs to address the user intentions with the role of social identification and satisfaction in the context of Pakistan. (shrink)

Traditionally, the term ‘diaspora’ (from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) referred to the dispersion of the Jewish people from ancient Israel. It had a pejorative connotation, associated...

To solve fractional delay differential equation systems, the Laguerre Wavelets Method is presented and coupled with the steps method in this article. Caputo fractional derivative is used in the proposed technique. The results show that the current procedure is accurate and reliable. Different nonlinear systems have been solved, and the results have been compared to the exact solution and different methods. Furthermore, it is clear from the figures that the LWM error converges quickly when compared to other approaches. When compared (...) with the exact solution to other approaches, it is clear that LWM is more accurate and gets closer to the exact solution faster. Moreover, on the basis of the novelty and scientific importance, the present method can be extended to solve other nonlinear fractional-order delay differential equations. (shrink)

Background The allocation of scarce deceased donor kidneys is a complex process. Transplant providers are increasingly relying on constructs such as frailty and cognitive function to guide kidney transplant (KT) candidate selection. Patient views of the ethical issues surrounding the use of such constructs are unclear. We sought to assess KT candidates’ attitudes and beliefs about the use of frailty and cognitive function to guide waitlist selection.Methods KT candidates were randomly recruited from an ongoing single-center cohort study of frailty and (...) cognitive function. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was performed. Inductively derived themes were mapped onto bioethics principles.Results Twenty interviews were conducted (65% contact rate, 100% participation rate) (60% male; 70% White). With respect to the use of frailty and cognitive function in waitlisting decisions, four themes emerged in which participants: (1) valued maximizing a scarce resource (utility); (2) prioritized equal access to all patients (equity); (3) appreciated a proportional approach to the use of equity and utility (precautionary utility); and (4) sought to weigh utility- and equity-based concerns regarding social support. While some participants believed frailty and cognitive function were useful constructs to maximize utility, others believed their use would jeopardize equity. Patients were uncomfortable with using single factors such as frailty or cognitive impairment to deny someone access to transplantation; participants instead encouraged using the constructs to identify opportunities for intervention to improve frailty and cognitive function prior to KT.Conclusions KT candidates’ values mirrored the current allocation strategy, seeking to balance equity and utility in a just manner, albeit with conflicting viewpoints on the appropriate use of frailty and cognitive impairment in waitlisting decisions. (shrink)

Electrical resistivity and ac-calorimetric measurements reveal a complex magnetic phase diagram for single crystals of the ferromagnetic Kondo-lattice compound CeAgSb2 at high pressures up to 80 kbar. The ferromagnetic order at TC = 9.6 K at ambient pressure is completely suppressed at a critical pressure PC = 35 kbar. Another magnetic transition, possibly antiferromagnetic, found above 27 kbar, attains a maximum value TN 6 K at 44 kbar and then appears to be completely suppressed by 50 (...) kbar. Thermodynamic and transport measurements in the ferromagnetic state indicate an energy gap Δ 30 K in the spin-wave excitation spectrum at ambient pressure which decreases to Δ 10 K at P = 30 kbar. No superconductivity is observed at ambient pressure above T 0.1 K, under applied pressure in the ferromagnetic state (P = 28.5 kbar), nor in the antiferromagnetic state (P = 33 − 46 kbar) above 0.3 K. © 2003 The American Physical Society. (shrink)

1. al-Tajurbah al-Ṣūfīyah -- 2. Khuṣūṣīyah al-khiṭāb al-Ṣūfī wa lughatahu -- 3. al-Ashkāl al-ramzīyah wa waẓāʼifhā ʻinda al-Shaīkh al-Ākbar.

Psychoanalysis is the name of a practical psychology, which seeks to make intelligible the aberrant phenomena in the stream of human experience which often are coincident with suffering and ineffectuality. In addition, it has another distinguishing characteristic in that it seeks to create a teachable method for the systematic treatment of these disturbances in adaptation. The application of scientific method to a psychology with these objectives created problems which are unique. These problems stem from the nature of the subject matter (...) with which it deals and the particular objectives of the scientific maneuvers. Its subject matter constitutes material which no other psychology has seen fit to deal with and the objective, namely, therapy, is one which imposes upon this scientific discipline a social responsibility. (shrink)

В книге рассматриваются проблемы, занимавшие умы ученых мыслителей и нашедшие свое выражение в различных вариантах философии истории. Для тех, кто хочет знать, что такое история, имеет ли она цель и смысл, и нужно ли ее изучать.

Anistia e as Ambivalências do Cinismo- A ADPF 153 e Micropolíticas da Memória consiste em uma primeira aproximação da pesquisa dos problemas contemporâneos suscitados por um tema cujo aparente anacronismo revela progressivamente sua extemporânea atualidade- o da anistia no Brasil, suas consequências éticas e políticas na transição do Estado brasileiro, e de suas instituições à democracia. Estes estudos foram escritos na atmosfera do debate público suscitado por ocasião do julgamento da ADPF 153 - sob todos os aspectos - sua propositura, (...) pelo Conselho Federal da OAB, consistiu em um gesto simbólico com o potencial de reabrir internamente o debate jurídico, ético e político sobre os temas da anistia e da responsabilização de agentes de Estado, civis e militares, violadores de direitos humanos no Brasil. Decantados nos anos seguintes, os textos que apresentamos ao leitor foram revistos e ampliados à luz de alguns encontros e oportunidades para debater o tema em espaços de pesquisa e de divulgação acadêmica privilegiados. (shrink)