Hasil untuk "Social sciences (General)"

Julian Rutten, Alexander Holland, Stanislav Roudavski

This research explores the idea of plants as designers and discusses approaches that humans can use to support plant’s productive agencies. It argues that plants have unique and valuable capabilities for creating and caring for their environments. Human interventions often overlook or constrain such capabilities. In response, the article proposes to use numerical modelling to better understand plants better while challenging the anthropocentric assumptions that are common in design. It focuses on large old trees in Tasmania as examples of outstanding plant-designers that need more recognition and protection. The article also raises open questions for further research on the ethical, ecological, and aesthetic implications of vegetal design.

Bogusław Wacławik, Joanna Popławska, Arkadiusz Sułek et al.

ESG reporting is a key process through which companies provide detailed information regarding their impact on the environment (E), society (S) and corporate governance (G). The aim of the article is to present the authors' research results on the reporting of environmental information in the field of ESG among companies from the energy sector and the defence industry, represented by the example of PIT-RADWAR, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2022-2023. The methodology was based on a review of the literature on the subject, legal acts and own research, which used non-financial reports of listed companies regarding ESG information. According to the authors, the article adds value to the literature on the subject, in particular in terms of gathering source material and discussing it. Considering the growing importance of ESG factors in the defence sector, the article also highlights the emerging trend of ESG reporting in this industry using the example of PIT-RADWAR S.A., emphasising its growing importance and the sector's first steps towards increasing the transparency of non-financial reporting. The subject matter of the article can form the basis for further detailed empirical research on ESG reporting.

Pavlos Tafidis, Mehdi Gholamnia, Payam Sajadi et al.

Abstract Air pollution is a significant and pressing environmental and public health concern in urban areas, primarily driven by road transport. By gaining a deeper understanding of how traffic dynamics influence air pollution, policymakers and experts can design targeted interventions to tackle these critical issues. In order to analyse this relationship, a series of regression algorithms were developed utilizing the Google Project Air View (GPAV) and Dublin City’s SCATS data, taking into account various spatiotemporal characteristics such as distance and weather. The analysis showed that Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) mostly outperformed Support Vector Regression (SVR) for air quality prediction, emphasizing its suitability and the importance of considering spatial variability in modelling. The model describes the data best for particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions, with R-squared (R2) values ranging from 0.40 to 0.55 at specific distances from the centre of the study area based on the GPR model. The visualization of pollutant concentrations in the study area also revealed an association with the distance between intersections. While the anticipated direct correlation between vehicular traffic and air pollution was not as pronounced, it underscores the complexity of urban emissions and the multitude of factors influencing air quality. This revelation highlights the need for a multifaceted approach to policymaking, ensuring that interventions address a broader spectrum of emission sources beyond just traffic. This study advances the current knowledge on the dynamic relationship between urban traffic and air pollution, and its findings could provide theoretical support for traffic planning and traffic control applicable to urban centres globally.

Antônio Augusto Lemos Rausch, Marco Aurélio Máximo Prado

Este artigo analisa os discursos de líderes religiosos sobre a inclusão da homossexualidade nas igrejas evangélicas, destacando as interpretações teológicas e bíblicas presentes nas práticas de evangelização de um ministério destinado a pessoas LGBT. A partir dos conceitos de censura, armário e sujeição, compreende-se como estes discursos sobre a homossexualidade operam um movimento duplo, de constrangimento e reconhecimento, materializando a proibição da homossexualidade no contexto religioso. Para tal, analisa-se o discurso de líderes religiosos, materiais evangelísticos, notícias e postagens em redes sociais. Ao final, evidencia-se como os sujeitos homossexuais e sua presença dentro da igreja são compreendidos como partes diferentes de um corpo, e cada qual representa uma “função” ministerial distinta, ou um dom concedido pela graça divina.

Reda Rafei

This article offers a new perspective on children and youth’s coerced displacement in the context of the Ottoman Middle East and highlights their potential as a social group to inform studies of children, kinship, and family vis-a-vis the state. Using iltizām contracts, I argue that the Ottoman state prioritized its stability and economic interests and turned a blind eye to promises it made to ensure the “well-being” of young Ottoman subjects. The contracts recorded around the mid-eighteenth century document an institutionalized practice by the state to remove and incarcerate young and minor males associated with the families of multazims, or tax farmers, who generally hailed from the class of provincial notables, or a‘yān, to persuade the latter to render payment of taxes. Although multazims appeared to be indifferent to the fate of their castaway children, evidence suggests that multazims took advantage of geopolitical changes toward the last quarter of the eighteenth century to avoid the incarceration of their children, as the practice completely disappeared at that time. This article also attempts to approach the question of whether this forced displacement of children represents a form of mobility, in comparison to other forms of children’s mobility, like the devširme, and explores what this meant for the expansion, or retraction, of the state power and its governing policies.

Leonardo André Testoni, Vera Maria Nigro de Souza Placco

O contexto da educação básica brasileira caracteriza-se, de modo geral, na atuação de docentes com descompassos formativos, que ministram aulas de diversas disciplinas, no caso dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental, ou que lecionam disciplinas diversas de sua área de formação, no caso das séries finais e ensino médio. Nessa linha, diversos estudos apontam para a evidência de lacunas e imprecisões conceituais no planejamento de intervenções didáticas, devido ao precário desenvolvimento profissional. Desse modo, o presente artigo traz uma revisão teórica sistemática sobre o tema relacionado aos conhecimentos profissionais do magistério e busca contribuir com tal debate, trazendo como resultado a proposta de uma visão do processo de construção de saberes docentes com base em modelos do conhecimento pedagógico de conteúdo articulados com os processos de criação vigotskianos. Tal proposta possibilitou possíveis implicações das articulações apresentadas em associação com as pesquisas relacionadas à formação docente, bem como com propostas formativas, que levem em consideração o contexto cultural do professor, especificamente seus esquemas repertoriais, aqui representados pelo espectro criativo. Desse modo, pretende-se que os contextos formativos utilizem e incrementem o repertório professoral, repertório este fundamental para o desenvolvimento de novos Conhecimentos Pedagógicos de Conteúdo em um caráter transformativo, possibilitando práticas que permitam o desenvolvimento profissional docente.

Vesna Lukić, Suzana Lović Obradović, Radoslav Ćorović

Internal migration is an essential part of regional population change. Driven by various determinants, internal migration has been unequal across time and space. Migration responses to the changes in societal circumstances make it relevant to investigate the spatial and temporal dimension of internal migration in Serbia before and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The research aims to identify to what extent and in what way the pandemic has changed the magnitude and geographical patterns of internal migration in Serbia. The study is based on additionally processed official statistics on internal migration for the period 2018–2020, from March to December for each year, at the municipal, district (oblast, plural—oblasti), and regional levels. These are aggregate administrative data on usual residence registration by month. The derived data on the net migration rate is cartographically presented using the classification method natural Breaks (Jenks). Spatial dependence was assessed applying the spatial autocorrelation method, based on the Local Moran statistic. The results revealed that the pandemic affected not only the volume of internal migration but also its spatial patterns. The findings present new insights on the role of internal migration in reallocation of population across Serbia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic while underlying the importance of further research to deepen the understanding of internal migration trends upon the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sheu-Usman Oladipo Akanbi, Olanrewaju Solomon Olatunji, Olamide Sulaiman Oladipo et al.

Climate unpredictability and weather extremes are being projected as capable of presenting additional challenges for farmers currently engaged in the low-technology based food production systems in sub-Saharan countries like Nigeria. This study assessed rice farming households’ vulnerability to climate change in Kwara State, Nigeria. Primary data, collected from 150 respondents using simple random sampling procedure were analysed employing descriptive statistic was use to describe the coping strategies adopted and Human Development Index (HDI) was created to assess vulnerability of rice farmers to climate change. Statistical analyses indicated a vulnerability assessment index of 0.3001, pointing to a fact that the zone is prone to the adverse effects of climatic variability. For this reason, the study empirically underscores the need for farmers to adopt and adapt the planting of drought tolerant and/or early maturing varieties of rice. Importantly, the capacities of the local communities needs to be strengthened vis-à-vis the relationship between climate change and crop production. Capacity building at the farm level is crucial for improving crop, soil and water management, enhancing the demand for and use of better and more efficient production inputs. Tied to farm-level capacity building is the need to refocus public agricultural-based institutions towards exposing the rice farmers to effective mitigation strategies in the wake of climate change, provision of agricultural inputs, expansion of irrigation, efficient and effective extension service delivery, market development and other forms of necessary support.

Leena Ahmad Alfarani, Seham Saleh Alnafea

This study aimed to identify the extent of, as well as the obstacles encountered, while using artificial intelligence technologies in enrichment programs in Saudi gifted and talented centres. A descriptive analytical approach was used and applied to a sample of 104 supervisors, managers, and teachers at these facilities. A questionnaire was employed. The results showed: 1. A response from the sample’s participants revealed that ‘the extent of using artificial intelligence technology in enrichment programs in Saudi talented centres’ reached 84.3%, indicating a strong level of approval among the members of the sample. 2. The sample’s participants’ responses showed that the ‘obstacles of artificial intelligence technology in enrichment programs in Saudi talented centres’ reached 80.2%, also indicating a strong level of agreement among the sample members. There were no statistically significant differences among the individuals using artificial intelligence techniques in the enrichment programs in the talented centres in Saudi Arabia. This is according to the following variables: the educational sector (boys and girls), the nature of the work in the talented centres, the years of experience in the field, the age of the participants, as well as the educational and academic qualifications in the fields of the participating talent.

J. Jesús Becerra Ramírez, Mirna Elizabeth Quezada

El nombre del presente número es “La investigación para la acción y el cambio social”, decidimos titularlo de esa manera porque consideramos de fundamental interés destacar la importancia que ha adquirido el trabajo científico desarrollado por los profesionales de distintas disciplinas para favorecer a la población que atienden respectivamente, pues en los trabajos presentados se muestra una excelente articulación entre la teoría y la práctica, poniendo en evidencia que se parte de una concepción social y científica, holística, pluralista e igualitaria. La investigación-acción es definida como movimiento social, consecuencia de los significados que emergen de la acción y de la investigación, pero sobre todo de la relación entre ambas; de aquí se desprende su principal característica que estriba en identificar las teorías que utilizan los actores para guiar una acción y asimismo ser capaces de predecir sus consecuencias, siempre teniendo en cuenta que los resultados obtenidos serán utilizados “en” y “para” la acción, en la mayoría de los casos buscando beneficiar con ellos a todos los involucrados y teniendo la clara intención de solucionar o apoyar en la resolución de un problema concreto. Es importante distinguir que la investigación-acción se proyecta en tres dimensiones: personal, profesional y política. En la dimensión personal el énfasis se hace en el enriquecimiento, autoconocimiento y realización de cada sujeto en la comprensión profunda de las propias prácticas. Es por esto que algunos autores la consideran como un proceso neutral de acumulación de conocimientos a nivel desarrollo profesional práctico. En este caso se une la teoría y la práctica y se convierte en conocimiento y acción. La parte política y social se logra cuando la construcción de la realidad comienza a manifestarse por medio de la acción reflexiva de las personas y las comunidades, evidenciando la importancia del conocimiento experiencial para un adecuado desarrollo como grupo social.

E. Fadeev, T. Bogdanova, S. Goncharenko

There was competition between world alliances for many years. In this work we found historical economic aspects of competition of international container shipping lines and possibilities to enter the world container market for new entities.

Gediminas Bačkys, Renata Černeckienė, Birutė Dalmantienė

The adoption of energy efficiency measures is shifting the building installation industry towards green technologies, such as smart metering and home automation, bringing significant changes on workplace requirements and training. Electricians, apart from technical proficiency, require a combination of digital and environmental skills to respond to the installation, maintenance, and programming of smart metering and energy efficiency home automation systems. Although the adoption of energy measures for building installation is promoted under national and EU initiatives, the provision of relevant vocational education and training (VET) is insufficient in quality and quantity, fragmented and infrequent, not adequately addressing the needs of the sector. There is, thus, a clear challenge to increase the quality of VET provision for electricians to match their competences and skills with smart metering and home automation needs of a fast-changing market and to promote employability within the sector. The aim of the research - to analyse the opinion of employers of the energy sector in different European countries on the need for the employees‘ competence in smart metering and home automation. Respondents in different European countries have been fairly ambiguous about the importance of employees‘ competences in implementing smart metering technologies and home automation systems. This could be influenced by the different experiences of the countries and the level of implementation of smart metering. The results of the research show that knowledge of the network infrastructure and a wide range of smart devices including Internet systems, the impact of smart meters and home automation systems on the environment are among the key knowledge and competences of the EU labor market in the field of smart measurement and home automation. The most desired technical skills of employees are related to the implementation of smart devices and automatic systems in new buildings and the modification of housing automation technologies in the existing buildings, the technical skills of incorporating smart metering technologies into automated housing infrastructure. Sufficiently important respondents consider skills such as customer consultation about the right choice of automation systems, the use of systems and their environmental and economic impacts, and a deeper knowledge of home automation systems and smart devices. Having summarized the results of the research, the working group of Electrical and Electronics Study lecturers of Panevezys University of Applied Science together with partners from the SMARTEL project, suggested a solution to the problem: to create an open virtual training course on smart metering and home automation systems employed electricians and vocational training providers. After defining the outcomes the training course on smart metering and home automation based on survey results from five European countries, European employers and vocational training providers are offered an open training course "Smart Metering and Home Automation Skills for Electricians", consisting of 6 parts: building engineering systems automation, energy management, intelligent control systems networks, sensors, intelligent device programming and installation, programming of user interface for automated devices.

Diego Santos Vieira de Jesus

The purpose of this article is to examine the socioeconomic, cultural and political roles of craft to the indigenous population living on authorized indigenous land in Rio de Janeiro and its capital. The central argument suggests that craft has not only the role of income and employment generation in the context of the development of creative economy in the state, but also the resistance to marginalization of indigenous people in public policies and state and federal laws, as well as their invisibility in craftsmen’s social organizations. Craft can lead to greater autonomy and development of indigenous communities by linking aesthetic, symbolic and social elements of local crafts to the improvement of the political and socioeconomic living conditions of communities in the context of the stimulus to creative sectors in areas of the state of Rio de Janeiro. At the same time, craft offers greater visibility to cultural production of marginalized social groups such as indigenous people and brings potentially transformative discussions about their conditions and position in public policies and laws aimed at the craft itself, as well as the craftsmen’s social organizations.

AT Roux

The evolution of transit advertising offers marketers a whole range of new opportunities to engage and reinforce their advertising messages, and even to entertain commuters. Minibus taxis are the most-viewed Out-of-home advertising medium, and the dominant mode of transport in South Africa. Despite the potential opportunities and the reach of minibus taxi advertising in the country, there is a lack of understanding of the effectiveness of this medium from an emerging perspective. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this lacuna by investigating the relationships between constructs that might further contribute to the effectiveness of minibus taxi advertising. The target audience comprises regular minibus taxi commuters at six of the largest taxi ranks in Tshwane. Judgement sampling was used; and a total of 1200 questionnaires were completed. The results show that the strengths of the relationships differ: the strongest relationship was found between commuters’ view of minibus taxi advertising and the effectiveness of minibus taxi advertising; while the weakest relationship was between the attitude towards advertising in general, and the perceptions of minibus taxi advertising. The research is beneficial to marketers who intend to make use of this conduit, in order to target minibus taxi commuters – who are typically the key decision-makers in household purchases.

Disa Persson

This article examines the relationship between the French fin-de-siècle painter Paul Gauguin’s (1848-1903) anti-modernism and the ideology behind the colonial project. Setting out to refute the Western materialistic ‘civilisation’, Gauguin embraced the supposed savage, primitive, and pure ‘Other’. In paintings such as ‘Breton Calvary’ (1889) and ‘The Specter Watches Her’ (1892), Gauguin uses Breton farmers and Tahitian women as formal embodiments of his imagined ‘earthly paradise’ and the primordial ‘savage’ character. However, as the postmodern philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) argues, there is always a relationship of power within a discourse. Through defining what is ‘primitive’ and what is ‘civilised’ from within a Western paradigm, Gauguin is testifying to a Western hegemony. Though Gauguin’s idealisation of the ‘primitive’ essentially sought to criticise the Western colonial discourse, it essentially reinforces its main ideological justification: the hierarchical dichotomy between the ‘primitive’ and the ‘civilised’.

Constantin Felicia, Bogdan Rodica

Custom sets that teaching foreign languages refers to teaching and learning a language taken in isolation, within an essentially monolingual framework. Academic orthodoxy Chardenet (2007) refers to training the teacher in one foreign language only, following the unnatural preoccupation for the completion of knowledge and skills in this language. The dynamics of the societies forces towards the transition from monolingualism to multilingualism, by introducing the pluralistic like teaching devices. Defined as "teaching approaches that put into practice the teaching-learning activities while involving more (= more than one) linguistic and cultural variety," pluralistic approaches are designed as opposed to traditional teaching approaches, the aim of which is a particular language or culture in isolation (Candelier, 2007: 7). Intercomprehension is, along with the intercultural approach, the integrated teaching of foreign languages and awakening to languages, a pluralistic approach that allows the development of diverse and unthinkable emotional and practical knowledge and skills, inventoried in a Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures (CARAP). Considered from different perspectives - as a method, strategy, training device or educational purpose - intercomprehension is mainly a general competence of the multilingual individual. A doctoral program attended at the University of Reims, France, as part of a team coordinated by professors J.E. Tyvaert and E. Castagne, has allowed us to experiment intercomprehension with a public trained for skills training for acquiring the perception and understanding of foreign languages not known a priori. According to Jamet (2010), it is a metalinguistic cognitive type activity (the awareness of areas of formal transparency and of significance), meta-pragmatic (the use of knowledge acquired in the native language to decide the needs triggered in a certain situation) and meta-cultural (by means of the encyclopaedic knowledge of the world), activity practiced by inferential type strategies. The regular observation of ICE type training sessions has led us to a reflection applied to non-philological learning environment. We consider that organizing a module of initiation in French for beginner economic students, a course relying on intercomprehension principles, would be an excellent introduction to multilingualism. In this paper we will tackle the knowledge that, according to CARAP, seems attainable by means of this alternative method of teaching - learning a language, in the light, even if only virtual at the moment, of the introduction of French in the curriculum by specific means of intercomprehension. Established as prolegomena to the traditional study, an introductory course of intercomprehension of French would be able to provide students with quicker global linguistic knowledge otherwise acquired in a longer period of time, with more effort and without guaranteed results.

Aritonović Ivana

In this work an emphasis of problems of (non)respecting human rights and freedoms of ethnical minorities in Kosovo and Metohia, primarily from descriptive and then critic points of view. Foundation for writing this work was a book written by Srđan Slović, Human Rights, CSCE/OSCE and Kosovo Crisis, in which the author theoretically analyzed the concept of human rights and freedoms, as well as difficulties related to respecting those rights within the mission of OSCE in Kosovo and Metohia. It turns out that, after twelve years of Mission's presence, there are still some flagrant violations of human rights and freedoms of ethnic minorities in the province, that are furthermore jeopardized by unilateral declaration of independence of the province and by work of international organizations, such as EULEX, ICO and KFOR that assist on a daily basis so-called Kosovo institutions in tendencies to integrate Serbs into institutional system they do not want to accept. Hence OSCE comes to scene as the only international organization with 'status neutral', to whose representatives Serbs in Kosovo can address and ask for help in cases when their rights are violated.

Antoni M. Badia i Margarit

Miguel Ángel Damián Huato, Benito Ramírez Valverde, Filemón Parra Inzunza et al.

Se analizan las múltiples estrategias de reproducción social de los productores de maíz del estado de Tlaxcala y el efecto que ha tenido la pluriactividad en el manejo del maíz y de otros recursos, así como en el desarrollo sustentable y humano. Con este fin se recurrió a información acopiada por una encuesta aplicada en el año de 2002 a una muestra de 1,884 maiceros. Los resultados indican que, aparte de producir maíz, 74% vende su fuerza de trabajo para sobrevivir, realizando distintas actividades; una sexta parte de productores o de sus familiares tienen que emigrar para contribuir al sustento familiar; las actividades pri- marias (siembra de maíz, ganadería y recolección de bienes), aunque aportan menor cantidad de recursos económicos, son estrategias de gran importancia por garantizar la reproducción social de la unidad campesina. Finalmente, no se encontró ninguna evidencia que demuestre que la política agropecuaria haya contribuido a mejorar la productividad, el bienestar social y la sustentabilidad de los recursos naturales de los productores de maíz del estado de Tlaxcala.

Antoni M. Badia i Margarit