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In this paper, we analyze the forms of conflictuality and violence in territories subject to agricultural and mining extractivism, the impacts on peasant groups and the way in which resistance based on agroecology is redefined by these processes. We draw attention to gender in interlocked power relations by showing, on the one hand, how it serves the penetration of extractivist projects, by getting (male) peasants to sign up to the projects or by attacking their resistance. On the other hand, we highlight resistance centred on agroecology, the reinvestment of the care work socially assigned to female peasants, opposition and negotiations within families and politicization.

At the beginning of the 1950s, the nationality policy of the People's Republic of China granted the Sui, a Tai-speaking minority (Kam-sui group of the Kadai branch) in southern Guizhou, the status of nationality under the Chinese name "shui" and allocated them an autonomous administrative territory in their name with the rank of district. The study presented here provides an example of the territorial production of the Chinese state captured on a local scale, where questions of ethnic identification and regional autonomy present their own configurations. We begin by examining the classification procedures of the Qing imperial state, which at the end of the seventeenth century drew the first official contours of a Sui territory by dissociating them from the other 'barbarian' (Miao) populations of the region. The role of the classifications produced by Chinese ethnology in the Republican period in the future recognition of the Sui as a nationality is then highlighted, as is the founding role of the Sui scholar Pan Yizhi, of Sui ethnicity, who was briefly entrusted with the vice-presidency of the Sui autonomous district in 1957. The recent re-publication of his work, which was ill-treated during the Cultural Revolution, allows us to retrace the stages in the process of its creation. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the instrumentalisation of this founding period for contemporary local development purposes.

الهدف من هذا البحث هو دراسة الآثار الاقتصادية للسيطرة المصرية على المجموعة "ج" بالنوبة السفلى خلال عصر الدولة الوسطى، مع التعرض للعلاقات المصرية النوبية ، والتعريف بالمجموعة "ج" ، وأسباب التدخل المصرى في النوبة السفلى، بالإضافة إلى إلقاء الضوء على النشاط الاقتصادي للمجموعة "ج" فى النوبة فى ظل السيطرة المصرية، ومنه مزاولة سكان تلك المجموعة لحرفة الرعى والزراعة، والتعرف على سكان المجموعة "ج" في ظل السيطرة المصرية على منتجات المناجم والمحاجر، وعلى منتجات الذهب، ومقتنيات مقابر المجموعة "ج" المتأثرة بالفن المصرى، وكذلك التعرف على طبيعة العلاقات التجارية فى ظل السيطرة العسكرية المصرية، وأخيرًا أسباب سقوط المجموعة "ج".AbstractThe aim of this paper is to study the economic impact of Egyptian control over Group "C" in Lower Nubia during the Middle Kingdom, as well as addressing Egyptian-Nubian relations and introducing Group "C" and the reasons for Egyptian intervention in Lower Nubia. Moreover, it will shed light on the economic activities of Group "C" in Nubia under Egyptian control, including the practice of herding and agriculture by the group’s inhabitants. It will also explore the involvement of Group "C" inhabitants in mining and quarrying products, gold products, and the burial goods of Group "C" influenced by Egyptian art. It will examine trade exchange under Egyptian military control, and finally the reasons for the fall of Group "C".

Starting from the mid-2010s, Japan has seen a rise in media works (such as novels, comics, animation, and TV dramas) discussing the asexual and aromantic identities with an ever-increasing number of people connecting with those labels and, some of them actively associating with the LGBTQ+ community. The pull towards an asexual and aromantic society has also been linked to the lower marriage and birth rate by some experts, wondering whether the identification with such labels could be caused by societal shifts (busier work schedules, less spending power, financial insecurities). In this context, the two works this paper analyses, I Want to Be the Wall (Watashi wa kabe ni naritai, 2019-2023) by Shirono Honami and Is Love the Answer? (Kimi no sekai ni koi wa nai, 2020) by Isaki Uta link the societal pressure to conform to an allosexual and heterosexual way of life with the feeling of disconnect from romantic and platonic relationships with peers.

“Archive” comes from the Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον, “house of the ruler”: inside, we find what corresponds to the normative framework; outside, everything that dissents and is not conform. This occurs for the heteropatriarchal archive of intimate partner violence, as it is explored by Carmen Maria Machado in In the Dream House (2019), and for the archive of folklore, ruled by each (re-)teller’s framework. What if we regain the oral dimension of the tale tradition in a diffractive perspective? What if the reader entangles with the text, co-creating a new meaning? In this paper, I propose to shed a light on the possibilities of diffracting the folkloric archive, to shift the archival-ruled narratives in the direction of self-representation and empoderamiento for the subjectivities expelled from the archival narratives. Two are the paths proposed: firstly, situated literary retellings, with a focus on Machado’s memoir; and secondly, wild pedagogy and slow scholarship methodologies and practices, enabling the experience of the reader to entangle with and diffract the tales’ narratives.

As Canada works towards developing a national school food program, it is timely to examine the lessons learned from the programs of other countries. Analyzing these insights can help Canada avoid key pitfalls and replicate promising practices in program design and implementation. The Government of Canada has the advantage of learning from one of the longest standing national school food programs and our southern neighbour: the United States (U.S.). This paper distills vital lessons from the U.S. school food programs, with a focus on addressing four critical aspects: access, emphasis on health and education, funding, and program implementation. First, the U.S. experience demonstrates the significance of universal free school meals. The historical inadequacies of means-tested programs result in inefficiencies, stigma, and exclusion of students in need. Second, the paper argues for an emphasis on health and education benefits. Third, it underscores the necessity of adequate funding. Inadequate reimbursements in the U.S. have compromised meal quality and led to the food industry’s capitalization on school meals, with negative implications for children’s health. Lastly, harnessing the power of procurement and employment can stimulate local economies, create good jobs, and foster a healthier food environment. As Canada tailors its national school food program to its diverse regions and communities, it has an extraordinary opportunity to avoid the policy and program implementation errors revealed by the U.S. experience.

The platform firm has emerged as an important site for the production of economic knowledge. This paper situates the work performed by a newly christened group of “tech economists” under the auspices of these firms within a larger history of economists’ engagement with information processing. Previously, those economists wishing to grapple with the computer would ally with the military, eventually leading them to accept an understanding of markets as purpose-built, algorithmic “person-machine systems.” Upon allying with the platform firm, economists would attune their understanding to the business model of their new patrons. This paper considers what this development augurs for the profession.

This paper explores the early history of econometric computation at the University of Cambridge. Using the Department of Applied Economics (DAE) as a case study, the paper documents the transitioning divisions of computing labor with an emphasis on how human computors and computer programmers played pivotal roles in producing econometric knowledge. Since being founded in 1946, the DAE had relied on two ways of econometric computation: computors, who did the computing work through desk calculators, and the “regression analyzer”, an analog machine invented by Guy Orcutt. After the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was put in operation in 1949, a new group of econometricians became the very first group of programmers of the EDSAC. With significant improvements to microdata sources and technology, econometric practices by DAE affiliates boomed in the early 1950s, constituting the first series of collective contributions to post-war microeconometrics. In 1956, Lucy Slater was hired as the EDSAC’s programming specialist, signalling a turning point where professional programmers began to lead econometric computations. Afterwards, econometric practices became a new division of labor that focused more on teamwork and programming expertise. By revealing the dynamics during the historical transition from computors to computers, the paper contributes to the “hidden figure” aspect behind conventional histories of econometrics.

This paper highlights a series of forms of community participation in the case of a Romanian rural community that has a well-defined cultural identity and carries out numerous activities aimed at creating cultural vitality. The main purpose of the paper is to highlight a series of data and reflections derived from the field research carried out over the past years using the ethnographic method, as well as to interpretresearch data on the basis of a theoretical model developed by Mataritta-Cascante and Brennan (2012).

Jonathan Swift wrote perceptively about the emerging commercial society in Britain in the early eighteenth century. His particular focus was on the financial revolution and its implications for economic and political stability as well as for shifts of power between the landed and commercial classes. Following his return to Ireland Swift’s focus shifted to the developmental problems of his native country. In several pamphlets he advocated consumption of domestic products, challenged existing political structures and made trenchant criticisms of absenteeism and other dysfunctional aspects of the land tenure system. Swift’s politico-economic concerns are fully reflected in his best known work, Gulliver’s Travels but his most pointed criticism of the emerging commercial system is contained in A Modest Proposal. Written in the form of an economic pamphlet, A Modest Proposal is ostensibly designed to address the problem of poverty in Ireland. In addition to its implicit criticism of economic policy in Ireland, the pamphlet challenges the separation of economics and morality as evidenced in the writings of William Petty and Bernard Mandeville. Swift parodies Petty’s political arithmetic but it is suggested here that he also had in his sights the consequentialist reasoning present in the work of both authors but explicitly so in Mandeville.

Most survey research on the beliefs of economists has focused on measuring consensus within the profession. Researchers have given less emphasis to other aspects of the organization of economists’ belief systems. This paper shows using representative survey data for the first time that economists’ beliefs on an important subset of policy-relevant beliefs are ideologically aligned, despite moderately high levels of agreement on these issues. The analysis does not support the existence of a second dimension of alignment capturing a Keynesian/anti-Keynesian split on macroeconomic stabilization topics. Going beyond conventional methods, the paper also reports the results of belief network centrality and correlational class analyses, methods motivated by recent developments in cognitive science and cultural sociology. This analysis suggests that beliefs including those relating to inequality and redistribution, the level of government spending, environmental regulation, and the minimum wage play a generative role in economists’ belief systems. The results also indicate that the main source of heterogeneity in economists' belief systems is between ideologically aligned and less ideologically aligned subgroups. There is limited evidence of qualitatively distinct patterns of construals of relations between beliefs. Finally, although the analysis is tentative, I fail to find evidence supporting the hypothesis of a decrease in ideological alignment since the 1970s.

This paper aims to analyze the effects on German literature of the renewed interest in Nazi past. In order to do that, it considers Adorno’s and Mitscherlichs’ studies, in which they try – from a psychoanalytic point of view – to understand the mechanisms which made Germans support the leader and then made them remove their guilt. Then, the article focuses on some author of the early Sixties, in order to verify how they try to begin the Germans’ Vergangenheitsbewältigung. As far as possible, the paper examines the reception of these texts, trying to understand how and to what extent they give a contribution to overcome this collective amnesia.

This paper illustrates Alfred Adler’s quintessential concept of neurotic aggression and its subdivisions: deprecation, accusation, and self-accusation. It focuses on psychoanalyzing Jimmy Porter’s accusation. The paper tries to answer the following significant questions: What are the three probable causes of neurosis according to Adler’s Individual Psychology? What are the deceiving safeguarding strategies and their subdivisions? And to what extent can Jimmy Porter be considered a typical exemplar of accusation? To answer these questions, this paper applies Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology to the scope of this study, Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1957). This paper concludes that Jimmy Porter is a typical representative character of this abnormal state. The psychoanalytic dissection is enhanced by many dramatic confrontations.مستخلص يوضح هذا البحث المصطلح الهام لألفريد أدلر وهو العدوان العصابي وتقسيماته: الانتقاص والاتهام واتهام النفس. ويركز علي التحليل النفسي للاتهام لدي جيمي بورتر. ويحاول البحث الاجابة عن الأسئلة الهامة التالية: ما هي الأسباب الثلاثة المحتملة للمرض النفسي طبقا لعلم النفس الفردي لأدلر؟ ما هي استراتيجيات الدفاع الخداعة وتقسيماتها؟ والي أي مدي يعتبر جيمي بورتر نموذجا واضحا للاتهام؟ وللاجابة عن هذه الأسئلة فان هذا البحث يطبق علم النفس الفردي لألفريد أدلر علي مجال هذه الدراسة وهو مسرحية انظر الي الوراء بغضب لأوزبورن (1957). ويخلص هذا البحث الي أن جيمي بورتر يعد نموذجا ممثلا لهذه الحالة غير السوية. وقد تم دعم النقد التحليلي النفسي بالعديد من المواجهات المسرحية.

This paper aims at critically reviewing the concept of rentierism and the Rentier State coined after the oil shocks of the 1970s. It explains that it is the result of a relationship, which properly institutionalized through the market generates a mineral rent. This allows us to argue that the oil price fulfils a systemic role. Finally, this paper assesses the case of Algeria by examining its positioning in the hydrocarbon global value chains, with the aim to draw the conclusions that the future of Algeria as a gas rentier economy is quite unclear, but in the case of a major restructuring of the international gas trade, it could lead to its petrolization.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The research investigates how young boys progress in life after the loss of their fathers. It explores the adjustments they make, the coping mechanisms they develop to navigate life, and the male roles they assume in the family. Additionally, it examines how family can aid and support their coping and adjustment process. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: This study utilises a case study methodology focused on gaining an understanding of the lives of two adolescent boys who experienced the death of their fathers in the early formative years of their lives. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The paper focuses on five themes- family dynamics, life transitions with and without their fathers, post-loss reassignment of family roles, present circumstances, and future goals. RESEARCH RESULTS: A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that participants’ belief systems, family support, and striving toward future goals helped them to be resilient in this event. CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: While most research typically emphasises the negative impacts of death on people, this study demonstrates how individuals’ can be resilient, dependent on both person-related factors and environmental factors. To help adolescents who are grieving become resilient, the paper offers intervention and coping strategies through counselling, the availability of support networks, and combined efforts by the state and educational institutions.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Governments across the world were forced to impose social distancing and lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in December 2019. Following the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the disruptions, including restrictive measures such as school closures had severe impacts on the physical, emotional and mental health of all people, especially children with special needs. There was also scant data, particularly in low-to-middle-income countries. Existing literature stems mostly from western countries, thus the need to perform a comprehensive review on this topic. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The primary objective of the systematic review is to understand the impact of COVID-19 and restrictive measures such as school closures on the educational outcomes and physical and mental health of school-going children with special needs. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: This systematic review used the PRISMA 2020 checklist where four databases and grey literature were searched for full text articles, peer reviewed publications in the English language that were published during January 2019–December 2021. RESEARCH RESULTS: The literature search identified 1294 publications, of which 25 key papers were selected. These studies investigate the impact on children with special needs across the globe, with a majority of papers from Europe. We found that COVID-19 and the digitalization of schooling had severe impacts on the physical and mental health of children with special needs and their parents/caregivers. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: These studies highlight the need for an inclusive school environment to ensure that the learning outcomes for children everywhere are achieved. Further, a hybrid model that includes classroom learning with novel inventive methods would be beneficial for children with special needs.

This paper provides an analysis of Ali Abbasi’s film Border through a feminist new materialist approach that centers what I call “wilding”—a process of worlding that challenges binary and rigid structures of thought that dichotomize existence into fixed categories through the cultivation of bewilderment, a state of openness to not-knowing which requires the unlearning of anthropocentric epistemologies. Paying attention to the etymological roots of the word “matter” (as body, wood, mother/nourishment, and place), the paper shows how the film displaces the dominion of sight with an emphasis on symbiosis that foregrounds the sense of touch

This paper examines the economic cooperation within the Visegrád Four (V4) in the context of EU membership and its potential inspiration for bilateral relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. It explores the alignment of political values and economic relations in the V4, highlighting the EU’s role in fostering cross-border collaboration. The analysis delves into the shared priorities of the V4 towards EU enlargement and how these experiences can guide Western Balkan countries. It discusses the transformation of economic cooperation in the V4, emphasizing the strategic role of Germany and the evolution of regional dynamics. The paper also analyzes the challenges and limitations in applying the V4 model to Bulgarian-North Macedonian relations, considering the differences in historical experiences, economic convergence, and the impact of EU-driven Europeanization. It concludes by assessing the unique nature of bilateral relations in the context of EU integration and enlargement, emphasizing the need for a distinct approach for effective collaboration between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Author(s): Michal Vit Title (English): In Search of Principles of Visegrad (Economic) Cooperation and its Inspiration for Bilateral Relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria Journal Reference: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1-2 (2023). Publisher: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities - Skopje Page Range: 32-39 Page Count: 8 Citation (English): Michal Vit, "In Search of Principles of Visegrad (Economic) Cooperation and its Inspiration for Bilateral Relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria,” Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1-2 (2023): 32-39.

This paper examines the economic cooperation within the Visegrád Four (V4) in the context of EU membership and its potential inspiration for bilateral relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. It explores the alignment of political values and economic relations in the V4, highlighting the EU’s role in fostering cross-border collaboration. The analysis delves into the shared priorities of the V4 towards EU enlargement and how these experiences can guide Western Balkan countries. It discusses the transformation of economic cooperation in the V4, emphasizing the strategic role of Germany and the evolution of regional dynamics. The paper also analyzes the challenges and limitations in applying the V4 model to Bulgarian-North Macedonian relations, considering the differences in historical experiences, economic convergence, and the impact of EU-driven Europeanization. It concludes by assessing the unique nature of bilateral relations in the context of EU integration and enlargement, emphasizing the need for a distinct approach for effective collaboration between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Author(s): Michal Vit Title (English): In Search of Principles of Visegrad (Economic) Cooperation and its Inspiration for Bilateral Relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria Journal Reference: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1-2 (2023). Publisher: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities - Skopje Page Range: 32-39 Page Count: 8 Citation (English): Michal Vit, "In Search of Principles of Visegrad (Economic) Cooperation and its Inspiration for Bilateral Relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria,” Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1-2 (2023): 32-39.

The strategic scientific management of cultural and research institution is put under scrutiny in the paper The strategic management of scientific research [Managementul cercetării științifice] by the author Meda Gâlea. To better improve the strategic scientific management, the author dives into the history of an important Romanian research institute, the Romanian Academy, and into its management style in relation to the research developed. To substantiate the results, and to support the development of the formula that underpins the decision-making process in the management of a scientific institution, the author uses actual scientific literature, corelated with the research carried out among the research and technical staff of the Romanian Academy in Iași. The most important takeaway of this scientific paper is the PRA-nX formula used to facilitate decision making in terms of economic management for better scientific performance.

Up to now, quality of life (QOL) research has been guided by several conceptual frameworks that allow for the generation of rather general approaches to QOL with very fragmented explanatory contributions, while no specific conceptual models can be identified in the literature. This paper, which is based on a critical review of mainstream literature, aims to highlight the main difficulties in building a conceptual model of QOL and to propose a model that can overcome some of the current issues. The difficulties in constructing such a conceptual model stem mainly from the variety of definitions and the range assigned to the concept of QOL, the consequent operationalisation of the concept, the relativity and multidimensionality of the concept and the subsequent problems with unidimensional measures. This paper proposes a conceptual model that adopts an individual perspective on the theoretical construct and introduces several novel ideas for building a comprehensive explanatory framework for QOL. The following developments and improvements are suggested with the purpose of clarifying the intricate field of QOL research and closing in on a conceptual model: honing in on essential dimensions instead of constantly expanding the concept, increasing the effort put into theorising about QOL, adopting a life course perspective, generating longitudinal data and utilising research on agency. There is a high need for the development of a conceptual model of QOL and the concurrent integration of QOL approaches, at least at the European level, as this would contribute to fostering the advancement of the QOL research field and highlighting core European values regarding QOL standards.

This paper reports a methodological exploration combining image network analysis and standardized practice analysis on social media data. Through applying the open source software Memespector to access the Clarifai API, the potential of an easy-at-hand image tagging tool as an instrument to manage larger data corpora is explored. Using the example of the German-speaking Twitter hashtag #systemrelevant, we relate image clusters to the results of standardized practice analysis of posts that contain images. The proposed method is intended for research that attempts to carve out the co-constituting of public discourse in social media by different groups of actors. The approach systematically differentiates the contributions of societal groups such as journalism, civil society, or private individuals, and the embedding of their tweets in selected anchoring practices and further modalities of participation. Altogether, the multistep analytical process offers a possible approach to process larger image corpora, while maintaining a sensitivity for the practice-theoretical demand of (re)contextualizing image use.

In visual communication research there are already several methodological approaches for creating image types. These approaches work with creating typologies based on the representational features of visuals / image motifs, reducing the complexity of extensive visual material. However, we argue that in everyday visual communication, the meaning of images depends largely on the practices in which they are embedded and not on the motif. This paper’s aim is to propose a methodological design for an image type analysis that considers both the representational and the artifact-related component of images, following a texto-material understanding of images. We illustrate the procedure step by step through an empirical study that explores visuals in couple relationships in Switzerland. The method enables a qualitative analysis of a large number of visuals that combines a) the creation of image types and b) a dynamic approach to in-depth visual analysis. Image types resulting from this procedure are more heterogeneous in motifs compared to previous traditions of image type analysis but allow for considering both the visual and the material dimensions of visuals, e.g., practices in which images are embedded. The approach builds on existing methods and contributes to the advancements of methods within visual communication research.

This paper explores the phenomenon of iconic image clusters and presents a method for analyzing them. It specifically focuses on compiling individual images into extensive image clusters, such as weblogs, photo series, or image galleries. The analytical interest in this topic is based on the assumption that the compilation and presentation of images are independent means of expression and presentation in visual media. Iconic image clusters can emphasize thematic aspects, highlight contrasts, create styles, or provide visual evidence. In other words, iconic image clusters reflect several communicative possibilities that arise from the technical reproducibility of images. Iconic image clusters belong to the subclass of contemporary hypertext / hyperimage phenomena in media theory and are manifestations of the human ability to generate meaning through relations of similarity and difference in communication theory. This article addresses how iconic image clusters can be analyzed validly. It discusses the communicative structure and functioning of such clusters and proposes a procedure for their analysis. The proposed method is illustrated with examples, including a photographic weblog.

Visual elements play an important role within the multimodal nature of social media (Pearce et al., 2020). A growing body of research has focused on the analysis of still and moving images from different social media platforms from various perspectives of communication and media studies (Hautea, Parks, Takahashi, & Zeng, 2021; Li & Xie, 2020; Veum & Undrum, 2018). Although the aforementioned studies describe visual data collection, their principal focus does not rely on this collection, but on data analysis. Little attention has been paid to the challenges of collecting visual datasets (Highfield & Leaver, 2016). In this paper, I propose a methodological overview of several strategies for collecting large corpora of visual data from image-based social media platforms. Provided with exemplary publications, I review five strategies for collecting visual corpora: hashtag-based, account-based, metadata-based, random sampling, and mixed approach. Lastly, I present a case study with my own mixed approach to the collection of visual data from Instagram. Considering the usage, advantages and limitations of each strategy, the article will contribute to the developing science of social media research. I believe that a literature analysis of visual data collection strategies and a provided case study can help researchers optimize visual data collection from image-based social media.

Exploring medium-to-large datasets of social media imagery can be challenging. This paper describes a digitally-assisted iconology, a hybrid methodology that includes machine learning and data analytics for sorting through medium-sized datasets of images that lack metadata to describe their pictorial content. The method plays to the strengths of current digital technologies. Using machine learning, pictures are first clustered in a preliminary stage based upon basic formal presentational characteristics. Thematic analysis follows this preliminary stage, based upon an expansion of Aby Warburg’s “pre-coined expressive values”, which are frequently found in pictures displaying high levels of user reception. Once clustered via these two separate stages, the researcher can then drill down using familiar forms of visual analysis to explore how similar concepts have been rendered in different ways. The analysis may be augmented by exploring the commentary appended to these pictures, which adds a further level of detail providing insight into end-user interpretations. The approach – including its drawbacks – is demonstrated via a consequential dataset of pictures shared on Twitter in 2015, after a Syrian child was found drowned off the Turkish shore. Derivative imagery based upon the original photographs referenced longstanding iconographic themes.

Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent among racialized immigrant groups in Canada compared to the general population. Hence, “ethnicity” is identified as a risk factor for diabetes, focusing on ethnic differences in health behaviours. By linking ethnic differences and diabetes risk, ethnic food cultures are problematized. Using the concept of cultural racism, this paper explores the ways in which ethnic food cultures are used to explain racial inequities in health. This paper will conclude by supporting the naming of racism, rather than ethnicity, as one of the root causes of diabetes among racialized immigrant populations and health inequities in Canada.

Türkiye aims to attain self-sufficiency with the transformation of its defense industry by state-centered and private sector investments as collaboration in the last decade. This paper presents new evidence on the effects of Turkish defense industry’s transformation on Turkish foreign policy by analysing the role of private defense sectors collaborated with the state institutions that are innovative and competitive as in today’s global environment. The main purpose of the article is to verify the claim that the developed, nationalized and localized Turkish defense industry is instrumental in taking more confident steps in Turkish foreign policy. Türkiye has been in a defense transformation since the early 2000s by focusing on a self-reliant and techno-nationalist model by allocating national security resources with the awareness of today’s world conflicts on energy, defense, security, and the experience of Cyprus crisis of 1974 and the ongoing fight against terrorism in a historical perspective. This geopolitical and strategic status of Türkiye and the resilience of Turkish defense industry have also emerged opportunities and challenges for Turkish foreign policy. Furthermore, it is observed that the transformation of Turkish defense industry has presented political and economic commitments for the future. The paper also sheds light on Türkiye’s allocation national resources and collaboration with especially private sector in the transformation process. As a result, in this article, it is concluded that Türkiye's increasing its military presence beyond its borders by exporting national weapons, active operations, military bases and peacekeeping missions means that it has adopted an active and assertive foreign policy. Qualitative research method has been used to reach this result together with primary and secondary sources. Information has been obtained directly from the websites of companies such as Roketsan, Havelsan, Baykar technology, STM, BMC. The defense article of İsmail Demir, President of the National Defense Industry of Türkiye, and the studies of researchers who wrote academic articles about the Turkish defense industry such as Sezgin, Seren, Adar, Yeşiltaş, Sekine, Öniş and Sakman have been referred. Apart from these, the DefeseNews website, which provides annual updated lists of the world's most powerful defense companies, has laso been used.

Given that values influence the scientific process, including when doing economics, we should be asking under what conditions this influence is justifiable. In this paper, I argue that citizen engagement could be the best way to scrutinize and justify value influences in economics. To do so, I analyze a number of citizen engagement initiatives in economics and discuss how they contribute to value scrutiny. Next, I look at the rationales that have been formulated for such a citizen economics, like, e.g., increasing economic literacy, democratization, and, strengthening the legitimacy of economics, and I evaluate their benefits for the scrutiny of values. Overall, the paper concludes that citizen engagement is a promising way to address value judgments in economics and to make economics epistemically more robust even though there are still some challenges to be addressed for it to become part of a broadened economic methodology.

The problem of demarcation between science and pseudoscience, although old, it was made central to debates about the nature of science in 1962 by Karl Popper. In this current climate of the pandemic, anti-vaccine theories and fake news, it is imperative that one distinguishes between science, bad science and pseudoscience. In this paper I analyse and discuss a number of arguments related to this debate mainly from Sven Ove Hansson’s paper, `Science and Pseudo-Science` (2021). The Swedish thinker argues for the importance of identifying subtle differences between bad science, non-science, un-science and pseudoscience. I claim that in this debate the starting point is a careful analysis of well-known examples. I conclude that understanding the demarcation between those domains and the unmasking of pseudoscientific theories is vital for negotiating both the social and the scientific landscape.

This paper studies two types of factors contributing to the considerable increase of the scientific publications in the SSH, during the last decades. On the one hand, a managerial steering of research activities has pushed SSH scholars to publish faster and faster. On the other hand, unwritten rules for career evolution, and the affordances of internet technologies, have exacerbated the same trend. In a third part, the paper looks at alternative models for publishing SSH research results, as well as at new trends in evaluation of research, aiming at reconciling the need to maintain a vibrant communication in the scientific sphere, with the need to reduce the productive pressure in academia.

This paper concentrates on applying the basic demarcations of the well-known Adlerian concept, the inferiority complex, to John Osborne’s dramatic masterpiece, Look Back in Anger (1957). This paper attempts to answer the following questions: What are the main aspects of the inferiority complex? What are the various justifications of Jimmy Porter’s anger? And to what extent can Jimmy Porter be considered as a true representative character of the inferiority complex as an abnormal state of mind? To fulfill these aims, this paper applies Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology to the scope of the study, Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. The study tackles the three distinguished symptoms of the inferiority complex: first, it is essentially originated by anger. Secondly, it is the neurotic individual’s abstract hindrance against any positive achievement. Thirdly, it is demonstrated in the presence of a problematic situation for which the neurotic person is not properly outfitted. The paper concludes that John Osborne is much influenced by this Adlerian concept that each symptom is remarkably applied to Jimmy Porter. Indeed, Jimmy Porter is a true exemplar of the sufferer of this negative psychological condition. مستخلص يركز هذا البحث على تطبيق الأعراض الأساسية للمفهوم الأدلري المعروف عقدة الدونية علي رائعة جون أوزبورن المسرحية: انظر إلي الوراء بغضب (1957). ويهدف هذا البحث للاجابة عن الأسئلة الآتية: ما هي النواحي الأساسية لعقدة الدونية؟ ما هي التبريرات المختلفة لغضب جيمي بورتر؟ والي أي مدي يمكن اعتبار جيمي بورتر شخصية ممثلة لعقدة الدونية كحالة عقلية غير سوية؟ ولتحقيق هذه الأهداف فان البحث يطبق علم النفس الفردي لألفريد أدلر علي مجال الدراسة وهو مسرحية انظر إلي الوراء بغضب لأوزبورن. وتتناول هذه الدراسة الأعراض الثلاثة المميزة لعقدة الدونية وهي: أولا أن منشأها الغضب. وثانيها أنها بمثابة عقبة معنوية عند الشخص العصابي تعوقه عن أي انجاز ايجابي. وثالثها أنها تظهر في موقف مشكلة يعجز العصابي عن التعامل معها. ويخلص البحث الي تأثر جون أوزبورن الشديد بهذا المصطلح الأدلري (عقدة الدونية) حيث تظهر جميع أعراضه منطبقة بوضوح علي جيمي بورتر. وبالفعل يعد جيمي بورتر نموذجا واضحا لمن يعاني من هذه الحالة النفسية السلبية.

This paper examines how the keto (ketogenic) diet comes to meet the social and political needs and desires that go unmet in the context of neoliberalism. By tracking the ideology and rhetoric that emerges from personal anecdotes of people reliant on a meat based diet – with a specific focus to online platforms – I situate the diet as engaging with and reproducing a male chauvinistic ideology. I suggest that the person who finds themselves on keto wants to invest in themselves to contrast the anxiety and precarity that they face in a neoliberal society. I call this figure Keto Man.

This special issue entitled “Queering the Tropics” explores how queering as a methodology and gender and sexuality as a critical rubric complicate the study of the tropics and conceptions of tropicality. It also engages with how the tropics as a worldly zone, and the notion of tropicality as simultaneously material and imaginary, reconfigure notions of queer sexuality. In other words, our aim has been to study how the tropical might queer queerness itself. This is to attempt to understand queer as a way to initiate and pursue critical encounters with the tropical world—indeed to begin queering the tropics. This first part of the double special issue draws on queer and trans theories and LGBTQIA2+ studies to map encounters with tropical nature, including tropical materialisms, queer ecologies, and spectral tropicality. Decolonial praxis and Indigenous epistemologies also inform this cartography. The papers collected together in this special issue offer a richness that both critiques and expands queer studies.

This paper argues that the Greek-Bahamian writer, Helen Klonaris, and Trinidadian-born novelist, Shani Mootoo, pay obeisance to those systemically marginalised peoples in the Caribbean whose notions of self continue to be damaged by forms of imperialist attitudes which condemn queer and non-heteronormative desire as monstrous and strange. The authors offer an alternative discourse to etch out critical insights into the complicated lives and subjectivities of Caribbean communities, and in so doing, have recuperated tropical nature as a recourse to therapeutic interventions and as a space that protects the vulnerable from lethal neocolonial forces, which aim to disfigure the mind and body. This work, therefore, presents the task of locating a language in which the tacit understanding of deviant and queer encounters, and pleasures, can be made knowable and available to epistemic inquiry.

In the tropical landscape of Tamil Nadu in southern India, the eighteen-day long festival of Kūttāṇtạvar offers insights into the interplay of transsexuality, death, and regeneration within Tamil Mahābhārata folk cultures. The complexities of queer identity and expression within the context of Tamil Nadu’s cultural landscape, with its entailing myths and rituals, include an understanding of tropicality and the Tamil ecocultural notion of tinai, as conceptual frameworks that shape human-environment interactions and cultural practices. This festival, which is held annually during the months of April-May, has synchronised its rituals with the hot and humid summers. Most of the activities associated with the festival are scheduled primarily during night or dawn hours to avoid the intense midday heat, thus reflecting a practical adaptation to the tropical climate. Within this setting, queer identities find expression through the rituals and myths associated with the Kūttāṇtạvar’s festivals. This paper illuminates the transformative potency of myths and rituals in shaping queer identities and traditions all within the intricate montage of folk cultures in Tamil Nadu.

his paper deeply discusses the implementation effect of Shenzhen’s foreign investment introduction policy, and makes a comprehensive evaluation of its policy effect. Through the systematic analysis of the historical background, current situation of the foreign investment introduction policy and its economic, social, scientific and technological influences in Shenzhen, the positive effects of the policy on promoting economic growth, optimizing industrial structure, enhancing scientific and technological innovation ability and improving social welfare are revealed. At the same time, this paper also points out the existing problems and challenges in the implementation process of the current foreign investment introduction policy, such as the lack of adaptability of some foreign enterprises to the local environment, the attractiveness of the policy needs to be improved, and the insufficient efforts to promote industrial upgrading and scientific and technological innovation. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward the optimization path of Shenzhen’s foreign investment introduction policy, including strengthening the formulation and implementation of localization strategy, improving the pertinency and attractiveness of the policy, promoting industrial upgrading and scientific and technological innovation, etc. These optimization paths aim to further play the role of foreign investment introduction policy and promote the sustainable and healthy development of Shenzhen’s economy.

This paper aims to explore the factors influencing the communication effect of short video content in social media platforms, especially taking Douyin, a short video platform, as an example for in-depth analysis. Based on relevant literature, this paper analyzes the basic characteristics, content types and communication mechanism of Douyin short videos, summarizes the influence of multiple factors such as content quality, user characteristics and platform recommendation on the content communication effect of Douyin platform, reveals the key factors affecting the communication effect of short videos, and puts forward corresponding optimization strategies.

The stock price reflects various factors such as the rate of economic growth, inflation, overall economy, trade balance, and monetary system, all of which impact the stock market as a whole. Investors often find the principle of stock price trends unclear because of the many important variables involved. When creating an investment strategy or determining the timing for buying or selling stocks, forecasting stock market trends plays a critical role. It is difficult to estimate the value of the stock market due to the non-linear and dynamic nature of the stock index. Numerous studies using deep learning techniques have been successful in making such predictions. The Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) has become popular for predicting stock market prices. This paper thoroughly examines methods for predicting stock market performance using RNN-LSTM and GA-LSTM, provides explanations of these methods, and performs a comparative analysis. We will discuss future directions and outline the significance of using RNN-LSTM and GA-LSTM for forecasting stock market trends, based on the papers we have reviewed.

In today’s rapidly evolving financial markets, the fluctuation of stock prices has a significant impact on the decision-making of investors. To better understand and predict these price movements, this paper proposes an integrated approach aimed at enhancing the accuracy of predictions. Initially, this paper analyzes the characteristics of price fluctuations in the U.S. stock market and discusses their influence on investor decision-making. Building on this foundation, a new forecasting model is introduced in this paper, which combines various advanced time series analysis techniques, including Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN), Long Short-Term Memory networks (LSTM), Autoregressive (AR), and High-Order Autoregressive (HAR) models. By comparing the performance of these models under different market conditions, this paper aims to assess their effectiveness and reliability in predicting stock prices. The research results indicate that the combination of these models can significantly improve the accuracy of predictions, providing investors with a more reliable decision-making tool. Furthermore, this paper also explores the applicability and limitations of these models under various market conditions, offering valuable insights for future research and practice.

As a new type of digital product, driverless shared cars will become an important part of the intelligent public transportation system. This paper aims to use driverless shared vehicles to carry out a comprehensive digital transformation of transportation, that is, to remotely control the driverless through the man-machine interface, and turn the taxi into a remote-controlled car controlled by a remote center. Compared with existing technology and business models, the technical framework and operational idea of driverless shared cars proposed in this paper have great advantages. It can not only reduce per capita carbon emissions and travel costs, but also promote efficient management of transportation and cities. This study can be also adapted to various countries in the world due to its flexibility. After summarizing and analyzing different driverless and shared car technology schemes, this paper predicts the profitability of cruise taxis after adopting this model, puts forward feasible design schemes, and looks forward to its development prospects all over the world.

Emotion recognition has been the subject of extensive research due to its significant impact on various domains, including healthcare, human-computer interaction, and marketing. Traditional methods of emotion recognition rely on visual cues, such as facial expressions, to decipher emotional states. However, these methods often fall short when dealing with individuals who have limited ability to express emotions through facial expressions, such as individuals with certain neurological disorders. This research paper proposes a novel approach to emotion recognition by combining facial expression analysis with electroencephalography (EEG) data. Deep learning techniques are applied to extract features from facial expressions captured through video analysis, while simultaneously analyzing the corresponding EEG signals. The goal is to improve emotion recognition accuracy by utilizing the complementary information offered by the interaction between facial expressions and EEG data. Emotion recognition is a challenging task that has collected considerable recognition in the current years. Different and refined approaches to recognize emotions based on facial expressions, voice analysis, physiological signals, and behavioral patterns have been developed. While facial expression analysis has been a dominant approach, it falls short in instances where individuals cannot effectively express emotions through their faces. To overcome these limitations, there is a need to explore alternative methods that can provide a more accurate assessment of emotions. This research paper aims to investigate the collaboration and interaction between facial expressions and EEG data for emotion recognition. By combining the information from both modalities, it is expected to augment the accuracy and strength of emotion recognition systems. The proposed method can range from conducting literature reviews to designing and fine-tuning deep learning models for feature extraction, developing fusion models to combine features from facial expressions and EEG data, performing experimentation and evaluation, writing papers and documentation, preparing presentations for dissemination, and engaging in regular meetings and discussions for effective collaboration. Ethical considerations, robustness and generalizability, continual learning and skill development, and utilizing collaboration tools and platforms are also essential contributions to ensure the project’s success.

In the past, information deliveries in technical communication were often considered as a normative duty, but has now grown into a knowledge-bearing and knowledge-transmitting medium by more modern approaches of dynamic content delivery. As described in a previous publication [1] implementing and working with semantic correlation rules and knowledge graphs enhances, for example, the contextual understanding of information and the technology of content delivery. The use of various established media technologies, which are explained in detail in this paper, prevents risks such as unclear information management and a lack of transparency. Companies must ensure that necessary information is provided in a simple and targeted manner where it is needed. Therefore, using an efficient system which provides detailed information about products, processes or services, a company is able to create, manage and deliver a high amount of information in a professional way. In an era where efficiency, innovation and speed set the tone, technologies have been developed on the market for creating and delivering content. In this paper we will moreover describe the possible interplay of recent IT architectures, non-linear DynaRules of semantic models and AI extensions to enable metadata-linked content effectively with reduced fuzziness according to the regarded context of intelligent content delivery and information services.

This research explores the correlation between topics in a content delivery portal (CDP) and spare parts catalogue (SPC) instances, focusing the domain of energy technology for transportation systems. It is based on use cases that require further textual content in the CDP as well as reference links to corresponding instances in the SPC. Furthermore, this paper aims to show the process of creating Semantic Correlation Rules (SCR) – rule-based links between instances in a semantic network – based on the previously elaborated ontology. Moreover, it aims to assess, whether SCR meet users’ needs and discusses the strengths and difficulties of this implementation approach. In summary, this paper shows the general implementation process of SCR as well as the associated requirements in the field of energy technology for transportation systems.

This paper conducts a preliminary exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for emotion recognition, particularly in its business applications. Employing adaptive technologies like machine learning algorithms and computer vision, AI systems analyze human emotions through facial expressions, speech patterns, and physiological signals. Ethical considerations and responsible deployment of these technologies are emphasized through an intense literature review. The study employs a comprehensive bibliometric analysis, utilizing tools such as VOSViewer, to trace the evolution of emotion-aware AI in business. Three key steps involve surveying the literature on emotion analysis, summarizing information on emotion in various contexts, and categorizing methods based on their areas of expertise. Comparative studies on emotion datasets reveal advancements in model fusion methods, exceeding human accuracy and enhancing applications in customer service and market research. The bibliometric analysis sheds light on a shift towards sophisticated, multimodal approaches in emotion recognition research, addressing challenges such as imbalanced datasets and interpretability issues. Visualizations depict keyword distributions in research papers, emphasizing the significance of “emotion recognition” and “deep learning.” The study concludes by offering insights gained from network visualization, showcasing core keywords and their density in research papers. Based on the literature, a SWOT analysis is also conducted to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with applying emotion recognition to business. Strengths include the technology’s high accuracy and real-time analysis capabilities, enabling diverse applications such as customer service and product quality improvement. However, weaknesses include data bias affecting the AI model’s quality and challenges in processing complex emotional expressions. Opportunities lie in the increasing number of studies, market size, and improving research outcomes, while threats include privacy concerns and growing competition.

Against the dual backdrop of economic globalization and ecological environmental crisis, green finance has become a key force in driving the development of new quality productive forces. This paper first defines the concept, constituent elements, and characteristics of new quality productive forces, and then explores the promotional role of green finance in their development through theoretical analysis. The research finds that green finance can effectively promote the development of new quality productive forces by mechanisms such as providing financial support, guiding technological innovation, and optimizing industrial structure. The paper specifically outlines the pathways through which green finance can drive the development of new quality productive forces and proposes strategic recommendations on how to enhance the functions of green finance and stimulate the vitality of new quality productive forces. The study emphasizes that constructing an effective green finance system can promote the development of new quality productive forces and achieve sustainable development.

The US has been employing quantitative easing and printing money for more than a decade, fueling inflation while lifting government debt. To deal with the high CPI, the Federal Reserve (Fed) has resorted to a policy of interest rate hikes, especially in the past two years, when the US interest rates have been on an upward trend. This has led to divergence in the economic trends and policy directions of countries, with China facing a more complex and severe external environment. In this connection, first of all, this paper gathers the response policy of each country during the Fed’s interest rate hikes, makes qualitative analysis of those response policies, and provides pertinent suggestions for China’s economic activities based on its national realities. Then, this paper collects data on the US interest rates, CPI, changes in nonfarm payrolls, monthly rate of retail sales, ISM manufacturing index, and ISM non-manufacturing index starting from January 2022 to December 2023, builds a model using the Triple Exponential Smoothing Method and applying statistical analysis, and solves it with python programming. Finally, the paper analyzes changes in the macro-indicators of the results and forecasts data on each indicator for the next six months to derive the trend of the data on indicators concerning future interest rate hikes. By predicting the impact of future events on China’s economy, investment, foreign trade and other aspects, the author expects the country to make corresponding regulatory plans and policy reserves.

This paper introduces freight buses as a novel solution for city logistics, aiming to replace other freighters currently operated by various private logistics firms within city centers. The focus lies on investigating the route planning challenge associated with integrating freight buses into an city distribution framework. Each freight bus follows a predefined route, repeatedly traversing from a distribution center to multiple depots before returning to the distribution center. All depots are serviced by multiple freight buses on a consistent basis. This route planning problem presents a fresh iteration of the periodic vehicle routing problem. To tackle this challenge, the paper proposes a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model, serving as a fundamental framework for future research endeavors concerning freight buses.

This paper delves into the convergence of plant physiology and landscape architecture, with the overarching objective of establishing a comprehensive framework for the creation of sustainable garden designs. The fusion of these disciplines allows landscape architects to harness a profound understanding of the intricate needs and intrinsic characteristics of plants. In doing so, they can craft gardens that not only exhibit resilience but also harmonize with the environment, all while appealing to the senses. This exploration encompasses a broad spectrum of plant physiological aspects, embracing themes like water and nutrient uptake, the intricate process of photosynthesis, and the complex responses plants exhibit when subjected to stressors. Furthermore, this paper extends its purview to practical applications of this botanical knowledge in the realm of garden design. It underscores the pivotal role played by plant physiology in guiding decisions regarding plant selection, the thoughtful arrangement of garden elements, and the implementation of maintenance practices. The ultimate aspiration is to underscore the significance of adopting a scientifically informed approach within landscape architecture—a mindset that can pave the way toward the creation of healthier, more sustainable, and aesthetically captivating outdoor spaces. Through this holistic integration of plant physiology and landscape architecture, we embark on a journey towards the conception of gardens that are not just visually appealing but also ecologically meaningful and enduring.

The futures market serves the real economy is an urgent need to develop the capital market. Studying the interaction between the development of futures market and regional economy is of great significance for promoting their coordination and development, especially for the directional guidance of the development of the futures market in the long term. This paper studies the relationship between them from the perspective of regional economics. Firstly, it analyzes the mechanism of mutual influence between the futures market and the regional economy. Secondly, it establishes a VEC model based on representative data from Henan Province in China to discuss this relationship. The outcome indicates the development of the futures market and the regional economy promote each other in the long-run. At the end of the paper, some policy implications from the conclusion are put forward.