Suchergebnisse

The paper is devoted to some methodological aspects of interdisciplinary analysis of Projects for Complementary Currencies (CC-Projects) have been sometime realized both in domestic and foreign economic practice. The analysis is focused mostly on the revealing both of the CC-projects' basic characteristics and conditions necessary for the effective CCs emission and their circulation. An emphasis is also paid to sampling of possible methodological approaches to an elaboration of successful projects and relevant payment systems. Among the main missions carried out by the projects (especially based on the local currencies, LCs) the authors have highlighted the revival of the local economies, mitigation or even complete absorption of external shocks (due to the countercyclical nature of the action of complementary currency acting as a buffer, countercyclical buffer) and, in addition, the supporting of social trust. It might be suggested that in some sense CCs are focused on turning the target territories for them into reliable islands of socio-economic stability. The paper contains its authors' effort to reveal why some observed projects with a multifunctional load relevant to them do not always manage to serve as an effective tool for strengthening market relations on the ground. This is one of the important components of the undertaken empirical analysis of different CCs which one time were implemented in various areas of many countries of the world.

The quality of professional life is the degree on how the individuals feel in relation to their work as care providers. For helping professionals, it has positive and negative aspects that influence their professional quality of life. The present descriptive study focused on the above phenomenon of the teacher-guidance designates. More specifically, this study explored the level and significance difference of the three components of professional quality of life. The participants were the 20 secondary teachers (N = 20) of the Division of Cadiz City. The ProQoL – 5 Scale was used as a psychometric tool for the evaluation of the quality of professional life; and an interview guide was conducted during the focus group discussion. Frequency, mean, Mann – Whitney U test and Kruskall – Wallis test were used for data analysis. Results show that a high level of compassion satisfaction was evident towards 21 – 30 years old guidance designates. Also, guidance designates who were teaching Social Science showed a high level of compassion satisfaction. On the other hand, the professional quality of life of the guidance designates showed no statistical significance regardless of sex, age, area of specialization and years of service as guidance designates. The participants generally showed an average level of satisfaction and exhaustion as care providers. Hence, the guidance designates' attributes may suggest that through their coping abilities they settle their emotional residues due to empathetic engagement.

How do civic organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area straddle the paradox of challenging entrenched inequalities in an ostensibly progressive region that has been transformed by tech-driven wealth? Local nonprofits face the tension of maintaining access to elite resources while building connections to distribute those resources and navigate divides between the haves and have-nots. We draw on original data collected over the course of two decades on a representative sample of Bay Area nonprofit organizations. With rich information from both quantitative and qualitative data, we examine different aspects of nonprofits' relationship to their constituents and environments, including their community embeddedness, cross-sector collaborations, and engagement in advocacy. We then turn to the internal operations of these organizations and survey the professional backgrounds of nonprofit leaders and the usage of practices that purportedly make nonprofits more professional, accountable, and digitally savvy. Our findings reveal a sector that is developing its own model of what community-directed management looks like, neither tethered strictly to a Left Coast ethos nor displaying uniform responses to strong institutional pressures. Although the Bay Area sector pursues heterogeneous approaches to repairing social ruptures, there is a consistent theme of rebuilding and re-creating community. We argue that the region's diversity in values, practices, and orientations stems from fighting deep fractures that resist simple solutions in a place marked by paradox.

The early theorists had conceived airpower to break the adversary's will and achieve decisive impact; however, technological deficiencies and weak strategies prevented airpower from doing so. Later, especially in the second half of the 20th century, advancements in technology and the advent of new concepts developed airpower as a military tool of the first choice to achieve strategic advantages. Traditionally, states remained the referent objects and a prime focus for national security, but post-cold war developments witnessed the emergence of a non-traditional security paradigm, increasingly making individuals referent objects of security. This security dimension primarily affected individuals and ideational aspects and led to the developing of a new identity-based construct with increasing political, economic, military, environmental, and societal influences. This paper highlights that despite the remarkable advancements in airpower technology and its ever-increasing role as a critical military instrument, its effectiveness in dealing with security threats and achieving a decisive victory in situations complexed by non-traditional threats remains ambiguous. Considering terrorism as a social construction allows investigation into unthinkable policies to counter it. Nevertheless, the main objective of the policy perhaps can be the deconstruction of the undesirable construct whereby airpower, enabled with modern technology, can act as a leading military component.

Bibliography Entry
Bhatti, Amjad Mahmood. 2022. "Conceptual Framework for Airpower to Counter Non-traditional Security Threats." Margalla Papers 26 (1): 47-60.

The article is devoted to the study of theoretical aspects of professional training of educational managers within the requirements of modern transformational society. In the conditions of the prevailing postmodernism new requirements to the manager of education as the specialist and as the person are allocated, according to what the emphasis on the influence of such processes as globalization, informatization, and innovative development on the preparation of modern experts in management is made. Changes in the educational paradigm indicate the need for a specialist with universal abilities, able to quickly adapt to new socio-economic and social changes and effectively perform their professional duties. The analysis of the newest tendencies in pedagogical education proves the growth of requirements to professionally significant qualities of the head of a modern educational institution. Based on a thorough analysis, the features of professional competence of education managers, their professionally important and personal qualities that determine their professional activity are determined. Among the main professionally significant qualities of an education manager are such as strategic thinking, readiness for self-development, ability to make operational decisions, special and general abilities, positive motivation of professional activity, cross-cultural competence, emotional intelligence and cognitive empathy, effective time management. It is established that the effectiveness of management activities of a modern education manager is determined by his ability to properly assess the business environment, set complex but achievable goals, organize staff for their implementation.

AbstractLittle is known about risk management in homecare for people with dementia. We aimed to gain an understanding of the ways in which homecare workers assess and manage risk whilst caring for people with dementia in their own homes. We conducted a qualitative interview study with 17 homecare workers assisting people with dementia with their personal care. Interviews were face-to-face, semi-structured, recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was inductive and thematic. A key theme of risk was identified, with three main sources: the client as a source of risk to the homecare worker, the clients' home and behaviours as a risk to the client, and the wider health and social care system as a risk to both clients and homecare workers. Three interrelated aspects of risk were found to influence homecare workers' decision making and actions: homecare workers' perception of the level of risk, their perceived ability to control the risk and their tolerability of risk. The higher the perceived risk, the stronger the action taken by the worker or agency to mitigate it and the greater the impact on the client. To support effective development of this workforce there is a need to devise training that incorporates the use of tacit knowledge and experiential learning. Risk management policies for homecare should acknowledge and utilise the expertise, experiences and values of homecare workers.

The purpose of the article is to consider culturology as a systemic knowledge about culture, which is an integrative phenomenon, to identify the main trends in modern culturological research. The methodology of the work consisted of: interdisciplinary and systematic approaches to the issue, which allowed us to comprehensively consider culturology as a holistic system of culturological knowledge, which is in integral connection with all subsystems;method of analysis, synthesis, synergetic, axiological - to identify the main aspects of culturology as a systemic view of the development of culture, its functions and role in intercultural communication, the emergence of new cultural phenomena mediated by technological determinants. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematization and expansion of scientific ideas about the place and role of culturology in the system of philosophical knowledge at the present stage of social development. Conclusions. Culturology is a system-forming science and its subject is a system of knowledge that could conceptually affect the formation of cultural life in a globalized world, especially in today's globalization breakdown, world holocaust, and psychological stress. That is why the concept of culture is so important today, which connects theoretical and practical ideas about all spheres of human life, a methodology that provides a comprehensive study of culture as a holistic phenomenon of unity of cultural heritage, able to ensure the comfortableexistence of man in the modernized technological world.Key words: culturology, culture, anthropocentric paradigm, methodology, ideology, digital culture, values.

The complex phenomenon of syncretism has been a subject of close academic scrutiny in various aspects of humanities, social and natural sciences. In this paper, the study of syncretic features of science fiction texts fits into broader sociocultural context and relates to increasing complexity of modern reality, science and fiction. Understanding a fictional text as a complex and multidimensional integral whole, the authors consider syncretism a typologically marked textual "dimension", produced by a complex system of interrelated and interactive heterogeneous characteristics, fused into a textual whole to realize the author's intention. To confirm the hypothesis, the authors explore the syncretic science fiction texts of the 20 th – 21 st centuries which create a unique fictional world to produce a blended model of the traditionally opposed ways of human cognition: rational and emotional. The authors give a brief overview of the specifics of understanding syncretism in different scientific disciplines; offer the definition of syncretism and the methodology of its description; distinguish three types of syncretism (syncretism of reality, of intention, and of language data); analyze heterogeneous textual characteristics as systemic manifestations of syncretism at different levels of textual organization: subject-and-thematic, lexical-and-semantic, and structural-and-syntactic. The mechanism of creating a syncretic text is connected with the deautomatization of a reader's perception and with higher cognitive activity of the interpreter.

The work of Mary Helms and Alfred Gell on cultural transformations, object colour and brilliance and their links to ritual power emphasises the most important aspect of magic for objects — its agency. The aesthetic of exotic, bright and colourful objects in the Neolithic and Copper Age of 'Old Europe' was central to the objects' agency. However, the vast majority of figurines from this region was neither polished nor highly coloured, nor even decorated — sometimes showing signs of rapid production for short-term usage. Yet there is a widespread notion that figurines had the potential to produce special effects in ritual practice. Just as the agency of figurines is 'culture-specific' as well as context-specific, their potency depended upon a widespread underlying acceptance of what this particular class of objects could do for people. Here we pose two questions: how did figurines perform their agency? and was figurine's agency fundamentally different from the agency of bright, colourful, exotic objects? We present four examples of the magical effects — i. e. the agency — of figurines from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Copper Age of Old Europe: the efficacy of Lepenski Vir fish-persons; how figurines contributed to the practice of black magic in the Vinča group; the ability of the fragmentation of shiny, black Hamangia figurines to achieve significant social effects; and the arrangement of Cucuteni figurine sets to educate women about (in)fertility.

AbstractSupporting the expansion of best practices in Biomedical Engineering (BME) can facilitate pathway toward the providing universal health coverage and more equitable and accessible healthcare technologies, especially in low- and middle-income (LMI) settings. These best practices can act as drivers of change and may involve scientific-technological issues, human intervention during technology development, educational aspects, social performance management for improved interactions along the medical technology life cycle, methods for managing resources and approaches for the establishment of regulatory frameworks.The aim of our study was to identify weaknesses and strengths of the scientific, technological, socio-political, regulatory and educational landscape in BME in LMI resource settings. We thus analysed the current state-of-the-art through six dimensions considered fundamental for advancing quality and equity in healthcare: 1) relevant and 2) emergent technologies, 3) new paradigms in medical technology development, 4) innovative BME education, 5) regulation and standardization for novel approaches, and 6) policy making. In order to evaluate and compare their relevance, maturity and implementation challenges, they were assessed through a questionnaire to which 100 professionals from 35 countries with recognized experience in the field of BME and its application to LMI settings responded.The results are presented and discussed, highlighting the main challenges and pinpointing relevant areas where intervention, including local lobbying and international promotion of best practices is necessary. We were also able to identify areas where minimal effort is required to make big changes in global health.

Abstract
This article sketches out the conditions in which winning (türüüleh) may be achieved in Mongolian wrestling tournaments. Fieldwork carried out before, during and after the yearly competition of Naadam in the summer of 2019 suggests that these conditions are indeed rather diverse in nature. Getting ready for a contest requires wrestlers to be tending to several aspects of their personhood, as their strength, power (byar) or the success of their techniques (meh) depend not only on their physical preparedness, but also on a delicate balancing of social, technical and cosmological skills. Winning in Mongolian wrestling seldom relies on an individual performance only: following contenders in district, regional and national Naadam tournaments as they prepare for, take part in and reflect on these, we want to show that coming out on top requires a plan, or a 'picture' (zurag), which might or might not prevail, i.e. 'come in' (oroh), over that of other wrestlers. This plan involves enlisting the support of competing wrestlers, and therefore mobilising such resources as kinship, autochthony or money in order to convince them to do so. It is indeed a delicate balance between physical strength, cosmological caution and political strategy that a wrestler must strike for his plan to prevail in a competition, and it is perhaps no wonder if their person and their success should be given such a political importance in Mongolia today.

In this article, the author considers two most important, in his opinion, aspects of the activities of the Islamist movement «Muslim Brotherhood» (MB) in Europe today – a rupture that has emerged in the system of the highest governing bodies of the MB (the formation of two rival centers – in Istanbul and London) and the intensification of attempts of MB groups participation in the political life of European countries under the «banner of Islam». The author draws attention to the fact that the observed «renaissance of the brothers» in Europe not only clearly contrasts with the position of their associates in most Arab countries, in whose social and political life they are failing after failure, but can also be considered as an attempt to lead the MB precisely through his European experience to preserve the movement itself, to support the dynamics of its activity, to formulate its upcoming goals. In other words, to demonstrate the ability of the movement and its ideology to transform and adapt to the conditions of the 21st century. To do this, the Islamist «brotherhood» is actively exploiting the potential of the welfare state and political freedoms in the Old World. The author explores the mechanisms used by the Islamists of the BM to penetrate into state structures and influential layers of European societies. It is noteworthy that the activities of the MB are increasingly mentioned by European experts and politicians in the context of growing internal threats to their countries.

AbstractThe present study explores the characteristics of visually impaired mothers' personal identities as reflected in their individual representations of motherhood taking account of the impact of the specific social context on these representations. The sample included 20 visually impaired (VI) and 21 normally sighted (NS) mothers. In line with the narrative psychological approach to motherhood, each participant gave a narrative account of her related experiences in a semi-structured interview. The transcribed responses were subjected to a thematic analysis aimed at comparing the narratives of visually impaired and normally sighted mothers' for thematic composition in order to identify shared and impairment specific themes of motherhood experiences. The motherhood experiences were sorted into eight thematic categories: Emotions; Continuity; Personal Development; Connectedness; Challenges; Partner; Roles and Principles; and Calling/Career. While in some categories VI and NS mothers showed similar patterns of experience, such as finding a new purpose in life and developing a new role in the family with the advent of pregnancy (Personal Development), in other categories motherhood experiences were thematized differently, such as VI mothers focused on challenges posed by day-to-day situations, NS mothers were rather concerned with their children's future (Challenges). The study presents the shared and non-shared aspects of disabled and non-disabled women's motherhood experiences with the primary aim of demonstrating the potential impact of the prevailing sociocultural norms, and attitudes considering visually impaired mothers on their motherhood experiences.

AbstractIn this paper, a sustainability framework with a case application for UK's Scottish fisheries has been developed which integrates aspects related to economic growth, social development, governance, biology, environment, and logistics. Scotland is the centre of UK's commercial fishery sector however it faces challenges such as overexploitation, and changes in the governance structure following Brexit. The contributions of this study are threefold including (i) collecting and analysing primary data gathered from a diverse group of stakeholders in the Scottish fishery sector and scientific community, (ii) prioritising a diverse range of criteria in terms of importance in decision making from industry and scientific community perspectives, (iii) elaboration of the key management objectives in this region within the context of sustainable management of fisheries in the UK.The results of this stakeholders' survey show that the key management objectives are reductions in overexploitation of stocks, inclusive governance, increase in transparency and simplicity of policy measures, reduction in marine litter, and increase in the efficiency of vessels. The analysis also shows that the industry group places a higher importance on socio-economic objectives such as increase in profit and employment compared to the scientific group. On the other hand, the scientific group prioritised the objectives such as reducing discards, bycatch, and impact on seafloor compared to the industry group. This study provides insight for the UK's fisheries sector, and scientific advisory groups for the enhanced implementation of sustainable fisheries management policies.