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In this paper we consider the experiences of international students studying in Norway, analysing data from more than 5,000 survey respondents. Variations according to students' region of origin and whether they are full degree students or exchange students are the focus. Students report a high level of overall satisfaction, exchange students in particular, and the vast majority of students are content with the quality of teaching. Students from the African continent report being more content than others, despite struggling somewhat more with academic demands and having weaker social networks, something they have in common with Asian students. Multivariate analyses show that type of mobility (full degree cf. exchange), region of origin, coping with academic demands, satisfaction with teaching and interaction with Norwegians are predictors of overall satisfaction with studying in Norway. The patterns observed are assumed to be related to prior experiences and expectations.

The article notes international serials and electronic resource management news for July 1, 2012. The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services' Continuing Resources Section presented the Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award to Valerie Bross. The North American Serials Interest Group's newly elected officers include Joyce Tenney, Shana McDonald, and Chris Brady. The Library of Congress' Bibliographic Framework Initiative General Plan is on its website at http://www.loc.gov/marc/transition/pdf/bibframework-10312011.pdf.

A documentary review was conducted on the production and publication of research papers on studying the variable Digital Transformation, Education and COVID-19. The bibliometric analysis proposed in this document aims to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in the Scopus database from 2020 to 2022, achieving the identification of 464 publications in total. The information provided by this platform was organized using tables and figures, categorizing the information by Year of Publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, the position of different authors regarding the proposed topic was referenced through qualitative analysis. Among the main findings of this research, it is found that Spain, with 49 publications, was the country with the highest global production. The area of knowledge that made the most significant contribution to the construction of bibliographic material related to the study of Digital Transformation, Education and COVID-19 was the area of Social Sciences with 253 published documents, and the type of publication that was most used during the period mentioned above was the journal article, representing 54% of the total scientific production.

Background: Within the current labor market, continuously changing and accelerating since the COVID-19 crisis (World Economic Forum, 2021), the educational system must offer a pedagogical alternative to face and anticipate these 21st century changes and demands (OECD, 2018). Based on the four-dimensional education framework, from the Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR), the online learning literature, and students' perspectives, the Beyond Education (BE) organization has proposed a series of interactive online pedagogical programs aiming to develop 21st-century competencies in school-age students. Methods: The aim of this paper is to propose both quantitative and qualitative data analyses of the first pilot program: "BE a Global Citizen" through a semi-experimental study, using a mixed-method approach, analyzing the pre- and post-tests results of 26 students aged 16 to 18 years old. Results: Analyses presented evidence of the program's efficacy at developing 21st century competencies in students, particularly those competencies targeted by the program, which were significantly increased. Conclusions: Although these are promising results, a replicability study needs to be done on a larger sample in order to generalize the results.

Students' action competence must be taught and developed, particularly for prospective science teachers, to have a pedagogical perspective as environmental educators. As indicated by publications in respected journals, researchers' focus and alignment on the issue of action competence are highly expected. This systematic literature review aims to compare the findings of research articles published by Web of Science-indexed journals. The keyword used to find the articles on the Web of Science's database was "action competence," which discovered 193 publications. Furthermore, 25 articles met the criteria to be analyzed. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis was the inclusion and exclusion model used. In the last three years, research focused on action competence has increased. The research employed several methods, i.e., qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and development research. Jelle Boevede Pauw and Wanda Sass were the authors who frequently published research that focused on action competence. The keyword action competence was directly associated with environmental education, sustainable development, education-based learning for sustainable development, and evaluation. The authors who published their research with this focus were from 16 countries, mainly from Europe, i.e., Sweden, Belgium, and Denmark. The continent diversity of authors who contributed articles indicated that the action competence issue had become a global concern. Furthermore, it was found that the number of non-collaborating publications (universities or countries) was higher than those collaborating, even though single authors rarely wrote the articles. The recent trend shows that publications are authored by scientists with various backgrounds such as fields, universities, and even countries. The authors of this paper developed and proposed eight ideas to be reflected by prospective science teachers or science teacher education providers in educating future science teachers concerned about action competence about sustainable development.

The study discussed in this paper is a systematic literature review related to the role of dual language programme (DLP) in mathematics education which has been published within the last 5 years. This study was conducted to identify the distribution of DLP studies in terms of year of publication, the study context covered in previous studies, the context of study areas used, focus and trends of past studies, research methods used in previous studies and the role of language in school mathematics education. This review study followed the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) to analyze articles from Scopus and Web of Science. The findings of the study indicate that research trends in the implementation of the DLP on mathematics education for secondary school students showed an increase from 2017 to 2019. Most DLP-related articles are widely developed in the United States and Germany. The findings indicate that previous studies are more interested in studying the implementation of DLP in rural areas. Past studies have also preferred to use the design of either a qualitative study or a quantitative study to be implemented. Questionnaires, tests and interviews are among the research instruments that are often used for a study.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the nexus between natural resources, gross capital formation, globalization, and economic growth in the developing countries from European, Asian, African, and American continents. It adopted the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) approach to test this relationship for the period from 1980 to 2018. Results suggest that natural resources and globalization have a positive impact on economic growth in European, Asian, and American countries, while capital formation negatively affects growth. In African countries, the effect of globalization and gross capital formation is positive, but natural resources have a negative impact on GDP. Evidence from all continents illustrate that there is bidirectional causality between globalization and economic growth. Also, there is bidirectional causality detected between capital formation and growth in Europe and Asia and between natural resources and growth in Asia and America, while there is unidirectional causality from GDP to natural resources in Europe, from capital formation to GDP in Africa and America, from GDP to natural resources in Europe, and from natural resources to GDP in America. Based on these results, it can be said that new growth models can no longer be independent of natural resource rents and globalization., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: Labour market marginalisation (LMM), i.e. long-term unemployment (LTU), long-term sickness absence (LTSA) and disability pension (DP), among young individuals with common mental disorders (CMDs) are a challenge for the welfare system, and refugees and non-refugee migrants seem particularly vulnerable. The aim was to investigate the risk of LMM in young adults with CMDs among refugees and non-refugee migrants compared to Swedish-born individuals and the role of country of birth, duration of residence and age at arrival., Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted including young adults (19-30 years) with inpatient or specialised outpatient healthcare due to CMDs and/or antidepressant prescriptions during 2009 (N = 69,515). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals for the risk of LMM during 2010-2013., Results: Both refugees and non-refugee migrants had a higher risk of LTU compared to Swedish-born individuals (HR refugees: Africa: 2.4; Asia: 2.2; Europe outside EU25: 1.6; South America: 1.4) with highest estimates in refugees from Afghanistan and Syria. Refugees from Africa and Asia had a lower risk of LTSA compared to Swedish-born individuals (HR: 0.6 and 0.7, respectively), particularly refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq. Especially among refugees, a longer duration of residence and a younger age at arrival were associated with a lower risk of LTU., Conclusions: The risk of LTU among refugees and non-refugee migrants was higher and the risk of LTSA was lower, compared to Swedish-born individuals. Duration of residence and age at arrival had an influence on the risk of LTU, particularly among refugees.

The focus of this paper is to report on the music education partnership formation and activities of the University of Botswana, the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland) and other partners in Africa. The University of Botswana has been in this partnership for quiet a short period from 2008 to date. However, since the beginning of the partnership, some activities in the form of student exchange, staff exchange and intensive workshops have continuously been taking place. The paper will also highlight the readers on the funding of the exchange programme for both staff and student exchange. All these will help consolidate the beginnings of this exchange programme whose memorandum of understanding was signed by both universities (University of Botswana and University of Jyvaskyla) in July 2008. Issues and activities on how staff and students benefit from this partnership will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the linguistic contacts of the precursors of the present Saami languages with a broad scope, starting with a characterization of human language or languages at the time modern humans began spreading from Africa to other continents and what kind of differences there existed between the languages of modern man and that or those of the Neanderthals in Europe and the Middle East. As an example of how language contacts affect linguistic structure special attention is devoted to the development of negation in the Uralic languages of Europe. It is also shown how loanwords and borrowed place names can be used for reconstructing the contact history of the Saami group of languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the integration of Africa in the global labour market of football through the study of players' migrations to Asia and Europe. The presence of African footballers in the latter continent is analysed via a statistical survey carried out in September and October 2008 on a sample of 456 top division clubs in 30 European countries. The article emphasizes that the aspirations placed on football by male African youth, as a means of upward social mobility, are often too high when compared to the harsh realities of a transfer market based on commercial logics, which each year push many footballers away from the professional game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is a global divergence or convergence with regard to the ethics of corporate governance. Design/methodology/approach -- Regional perspectives on the ethics of corporate governance from four regions, namely, Africa, Asia, Continental Europe and North America are first briefly introduced and characterized in terms of distinctions between the ethics of governance and the governance of ethics, internal and external corporate governance, and shareholder and stakeholder orientations to corporate governance. Thereafter these regional perspectives are compared in order to determine whether there is a global divergence or convergence with regard to the ethics of corporate governance amongst these four regions of the world. Findings -- There are four factors that potentially may have an impact on the ethics of corporate governance, namely, patterns of ownership, the prevailing view of the role of the firm in a society, cultural and societal norms, and socio-political priorities. The influence of these factors makes a global convergence on the ethics of corporate governance neither likely nor desirable. Research limitations/implications -- Not all regions of the world were included in this comparative study. Regions that need to be included in future studies are Latin America, Central Asia and the Middle East. Practical implications -- The main finding, namely, that a global convergence on the ethics of corporate governance is neither likely nor desirable, should be taken into consideration by promoters of global corporate governance standards. Originality/value -- Based on regional perspectives from Africa, Asia, Continental Europe and North America, the paper provides a global perspective on the question of whether there is global divergence or convergence with regard to the ethics of corporate governance amongst these four regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on migrants examines what makes them ill. Inspired by Antonovsky's salutogenic approach, this study shifts the perspective and asks why migrants stay healthy. At the centre of interest are sub-Saharan Africans living in Switzerland who consider themselves and/or are considered by others as mastering problems affecting their health. The mixed Swiss-African research team explored meanings of health and resilience in 20 case studies in Zurich and Basel and five group discussions in Bern, Biel and Geneva. The data show that migrants with resilient trajectories have a dynamic and multi-dimensional understanding of health. Moreover, they have learnt to interpret difficulties as 'stress': a popular illness concept in Switzerland and Europe but less known in their home countries. The paper argues that resilience is closely related with the appropriation of 'stress' as an illness concept: it not only gives meaning and helps to explain diffuse symptoms of ill-health, it also offers an agenda for action and contributes to their feeling of social belonging in the host country. These findings have important implications for policy and practice in the rapidly changing field of migration and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the impact of protected areas on land-cover clearing, using a metadata analysis of information on 49 locations from 22 countries. Protected areas had significantly lower rates of clearing in comparison to their surroundings. In addition, protected areas had also significantly lowered rates of clearing within their boundary following initiation of protection. Thus, protected areas do appear to be effective at limiting overall land-cover clearing. There was some variation in the rates of clearing across regions, where most protected areas from North America and Europe showed positive rates of land-cover change, while protected areas from Asia had the highest rates of land-cover clearing. While most protected areas from North America and Europe involved a relatively smaller number of actors, a greater number of actors and drivers of clearing was implicated in protected areas from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, indicating the increased difficulties faced by park management in these regions. In contrast, country income levels and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources category of protection did not appear to impact the likelihood of land-cover clearing in protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the special issue entitled ‘Africa<>Europe: Transnational Linkages, Multi-Sited Lives’ outlines the history of the African migrant presence in Europe, gives an account of the contexts which shape contemporary migration, and surveys the approaches to international migration from Africa which have influenced researchers since the 1960s. Linking the contributions to the special issue is the theme of migrants’ transnational ‘double engagement’ with both Africa and Europe. The paper examines this theme across three domains of the lived experience of African migrants and refugees in Europe: ‘Livelihoods’, ‘Families’, and ‘Identities’. We conclude with an assessment of what can be learned (theoretically and methodologically) from the study of African transmigration, and suggest future lines of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 20 years, organized experimental campaigns as well as continuous development and implementation of air-pollution modeling have led to significant gains in the understanding of the paths and scales of pollutant transport and transformation in the greater Mediterranean region (GMR). The work presented in this paper has two major objectives: 1) to summarize the existing knowledge on the transport paths of particulate matter (PM) in the GMR and 2) to illustrate some new findings related to the transport and transformation properties of PM in the GMR. Findings from previous studies indicate that anthropogenically produced air pollutants from European sources can be transported over long distances, reaching Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, and North America. The PM of natural origin, like Saharan dust, can be transported toward the Atlantic Ocean and North America mostly during the warm period of the year. Recent model simulations and studies in the area indicate that specific long-range transport patterns of aerosols, such as the transport from Asia and the Indian Ocean, central Africa, or America, have negligible or at best limited contribution to air-quality degradation in the GMR when compared with the other sources. Also, new findings from this work suggest that the imposed European Union limits on PM cannot be applicable for southern Europe unless the origin (natural or anthropogenic) of the PM is taken into account. The impacts of high PM levels in the GMR are not limited only to air quality, but also include serious implications for the water budget and the regional climate. These are issues that require extensive investigation because the processes involved are complex, and further model development is needed to include the relevant physicochemical processes properly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of sub-grid rainfall variability on the simulation of land surface hydrologic processes of three regions (Europe, Africa and Amazon) with contrasting precipitation and vegetation characteristics. The sub-grid rainfall variability is defined in terms of the rainfall coverage fraction at the model's grid cells, and the statistical distribution of rain rates within the rain-covered areas. A statistical-dynamic approach is devised to incorporate the above variability properties into the canopy interception process of a land surface model. Our results reveal that incorporation of sub-grid rainfall variability significantly impacts the land-atmosphere water vapor exchanges. Specifically, it alters the partitioning between runoff and total evapotranspiration as well as the partitioning among the three components of evapotranspiration (canopy interception loss, ground evaporation and plant transpiration). This further influences the soil water, and to a lesser effect surface/vegetation temperatures and surface heat fluxes. It is shown that, overall, rainfall variability exerts less of an impact on the land-atmosphere flux exchanges over Europe compared to Africa and Amazon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential migration is a widespread, but poorly understood, phenomenon in birds. In this paper, we present the first detailed field study of differential migration in the Old World warbler (Sylviidae) family. We studied two chiffchaffPhylloscopus[collybita] semispecies: the common chiffchaffP.[c.]collybitaand the Iberian chiffchaffP.[c.]ibericus. Using data collected at several latitudes in Europe and Africa, we present convincing evidence for differential distance migration of sexes in chiffchaffs, with females moving further than males. Interestingly, while there was a pronounced gradient in the sex-ratios in Europe and North Africa (with an increasing proportion of females with declining latitude), no clear pattern was found south of the Sahara, where sex-ratios were more male-biased than predicted by a simple latitude model. This suggests that, amongst the chiffchaffs wintering in West Africa, a large proportion is composed by Iberian birds, and provides support to previous suggestions that Iberian chiffchaffs are long distance migrants. Results from detailed studies in Senegal also show that chiffchaffs display differential timing of spring migration, with males leaving the winter quarters considerably earlier than females. The results are discussed in the framework of the three main (non-mutually exclusive) hypotheses attempting to explain the latitudinal segregation of the sexes. Given the relative failure of standard comparative studies to discriminate between competing single-factor hypotheses to explain differential migration, it is argued that the chiffchaff species complex might be particularly suited to study this issue using a new approach suggested by: detailed (further) comparisons between closely related species (such as the common and the Iberian chiffchaffs) could help identifying the key factors to be incorporated into optimality models that can predict relative distance of migration of different sex or age classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is twofold. It aims first to provide a critical overview of the literature on the history of technology as it relates to colonialism, decolonization and development in the extra-European world during the 20th century. Second, it seeks to identify changing perspectives and emerging research issues in the history of technology in the European colonies and ex-colonies of Asia and Africa, and thus to trace a move away from earlier ‘diffusionist’ arguments and discussion of polarization and conflict between ‘Western’ and ‘indigenous’ technologies, toward a more interactive, culturally-nuanced, multi-sited debate about how technology functions within specific parameters of time, place and culture. Body, land and state are identified as major ‘triangulation’ points for the critical investigation and contextualization of these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the past and present of the approximately 80 slave trade-related structures erected by Europeans on the shores of the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Built between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, these monuments bear testimony to a shameful commerce in human beings, one that served to inextricably link the fate of peoples of three continents: Africa, the Americas and Europe. The meaning of these monuments remains powerful, bringing to Ghana and the slave forts a stream of tourists, primarily from Europe and the Americas, on a pilgrimage to view the virtual history of buyers, sellers and victims of the Atlantic Slave Trade. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the Bologna Process in Europe is the leading example, regional efforts towards harmonization of higher education are taking place in every corner of the world. In Africa, such a process has its roots from decades ago, although more coordinated activities are only recent phenomena. This paper looks back at the harmonization processes in Africa and Europe, and argues that although the process in Africa has been influenced by its European counterpart, the former has its own unique features, among other things, in its thematic and sub-regional initiatives. The paper notes similarities and differences between the two processes, appreciates the strengths and shortcomings of the African process, and highlights the importance for the African Union to more effectively utilize its leverage as a coordinating body, with a wider and more meaningful involvement of higher education institutions and other stakeholders. It also calls for more exploration into the potential strengths and risks in harmonization initiatives strongly rooted at sub-regional level.

Abstract This paper reviews literature for the last two decades with emphasis on levels, toxic equivalencies and sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) in Africa. Further, we comprehensively analysed data, interpret differences and identify existing gaps with those from other continents. We observed that high levels of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs were reported in environmental and biological samples near densely populated urban and industrialised areas compared to those in rural settings. In general, the concentrations of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in the blood samples from Africa were in the same range as those from Asia but lower than those from Europe. The concentrations of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in the atmosphere in Africa were comparable to and/or higher than those in developed countries. The reported sources of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in Africa were industrial emissions, obsolete pesticide stockpiles, household heating, recycling of electronic waste, and incineration and combustion of domestic waste. Regional and intercontinental transport of dioxins could not be confirmed because of the lack of sufficient literature on them. Further data about the levels and sources of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in Africa need to be generated to complete the chemical inventories for the continent and to facilitate the implementation of the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants. The reviewed literature shows that most analyses have been carried out in laboratories outside Africa because of the limited institutional capacity in Africa. More support needs to be given to laboratories in Africa to develop the capacity to accurately quantify dioxins on routine basis. Highlights • PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs were detectable in human and environmental samples from Africa. • Concentrations of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs were high in industrialised and urban centres. • PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in the blood samples from Africa were lower than those from Europe. • OCDD, OCDF and CB 77 were major contributors to the ∑TEQs in the majority of samples. • Major sources of dioxins were emissions from industries and uncontrolled combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The floristic diversity of the Le Quesnoy amber locality (Ypresian, Oise France) remains understudied. Icacinaceae Miers, particularly, require careful study, as they are the most abundant family in the site, with 185 nearly complete lignitic endocarps specimens and numerous fragments. In this paper, we recognise three species of Icacinaceae, two of which are new, that belong to the genus Iodes. Indeed, all Iodes species from this site have the following diagnostic characters: a vascular bundle inside the endocarp wall, a reticulum of external ridges, and papillae on the surface of the locule. Iodes rigida sp. nov differs from the others in having a hole at the apex, a pattern of reticulation that delimits some areoles, an "I-Beam" ridge structure, and punctuated and heterogeneous sessile, rounded papillae. Iodes acuta sp. nov. is distinct from the others due to its unique apical outgrowth (composed of the main ridge that runs from the base up to the apex and a protuberance from the keel merged), a very thin wall, and sharp ridges. Therefore, these new species have a combination of new morpho-anatomical characters never observed before and not found in extant Iodes species. Despite some scarce differences, some specimens from Le Quesnoy are attributed to I. parva. Finally, several seeds are recognised as Icacinaceae without particular affinity. These seeds are elliptical in shape, lenticular in transverse section, and slightly asymmetrical to completely asymmetrical at the apex. A review of the Iodes fossil record is provided. The significance of endocarp ridge morphology is discussed in light of new fossils and extant data. These fossils show affinities with representatives from other Eocene sites of Europe and with the Thanetian Rivecourt site (Oise, France) and appear to have mixed affinities with the modern floras of Asia and Africa. Other studies on this remarkable site, focusing on additional taxonomic groups, are necessary to elucidate the relationship between Le Quesnoy and other floras from the past and the present. Highlights • Iodes ridiga and I. acuta are two new species from Early Eocene of the Paris Basin. • Iodes parva is present during Palaeocene and Eocene of the Paris Basin. • Mineralised seeds could be related to the Icacinaceae family. • The fossils show affinities with African and Asian extant floras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The struggle against violent extremism is the most significant national-security challenge of the 21st century. It is the challenge that makes all the threats Americans face that much more dangerous. The ungoverned spaces, urban slums, and impoverished regions of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, along with the poorly integrated immigrant communities in Western Europe, are the epicenters of vulnerability around the world that al Qaeda and other terrorist groups actively exploit. There has been a great deal of debate about how Americans address these vulnerable populations and effectively challenge the threat posed by violent extremists; it is an argument fueled by the larger question of how to "win hearts and minds." While winning hearts and minds would be a tremendous feat if achieved, it remains an idealistic goal and one that must not distract from the immediate and realistic objective of diverting impressionable segments of the population away from the extremists' recruitment process. To accomplish such a diversion, the author stresses the need to look for ways to drain the swamp of potential recruits by overwhelming the target populations with alternatives, opportunities, and choices that are driven and disseminated by local vehicles and credible voices. These alternatives need not necessarily be pro-U.S.--so long as they unshackle populations from a situation in which a turn to extremism is the sole viable option. As young people around the globe are becoming more tech-savvy, the U.S. could provide much of its own alternative education in the digital space. In this sense, the author contends that the road ahead should be looked at more as a challenge of alternatives. The challenge of alternatives is not about promoting democracy; it is about diverting at-risk populations from the grip of extremist actors so that such populations have space to experience the freedom to choose. The author stresses the role of America in both the process of network-building and in engaging youths around the world, as well as in challenging extremists abroad. (Contains 9 endnotes.)

The paper deals with rock scripts, figures (petroglyphs) and writings which we have been considering for last twenty years. The scientists refer the beginning of age to the discovery of scripts. However it is proved claim that the pictures and figures started to be carved on rocks back in 14th millenium BC. Pictures carved on rocks are able to be interpreted into certain explanations as scripts and human history of 15 thousand years is available to our perception. Rock pictures and figures with turkic features are regularly encountered in most parts of Asia and Europe and north part of Africa. They possess similarities with toponyms, architectural and other cultural components. While considering all the cultural components it becomes obvious that the turks have been existing on earth for 15 thousand years with magnificent culture. The paper touches upon issues regarding the ancience of rock petrogylphs and figures with turkic features and their located areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper assesses group differences in severe and fatal road-traffic accidents by using a unique database that merges road-traffic records with the Israeli census data. The database traces, over a period of 9 years, a group of drivers that comprises 20% of the Israeli population and explores the probability of their being involved in an accident. This unique database enables the investigation of drivers’ socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, while controlling for a variety of variables, such as estimated daily distance traveled and license type. Testing a previously published theoretical paper on the social bases of accidents, the findings expose significant group differences in estimated probabilities of being involved in severe and fatal accidents. For example, estimated probabilities of accident involvement are higher for males than for females, for non-Jewish drivers than for Jewish, and for drivers whose origins are in Africa and Asia than in America and Europe. Furthermore, the higher one''s education and socioeconomic status, the lower is the probability of accident-involvement. The implications of the findings for developing road-safety programs and suggestions for future research are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Often, when one flips through the works on world religions one surprisingly discovers that little or nothing is said about African Religion. Whenever it dawns on the authors who are invariably Europeans to dare say something about the religion, it often comes in a negative mould. Some address the whole continental religion as a mere native religion others dub it in unprintable terms and names under the canopy of heaven. Some people still go as far as asserting that Africa has no religion at all. It is under this backdrop that this paper examines what the West regards as religion, matching it with what Africa understands as religion disclosing unprecedented match in all angles. Then, it becomes obvious that Africa has an authentic religion. Thereafter, the paper searches for the reason for excluding the religion from among the world religions. It stunned the paper writer to discover that African religion is so contemptuously treated because of the West's disdainful mindset on anything black and indeed on the so-called Third World. Besides, the paper discovers that African Religion is not only very much with Africa presently, guiding and directing their moral life but that it is slowly but surely expanding into Europe, Americas and Caribbean countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and validates a methodology for the quantification of the daily African PM load during dust outbreaks in southern Europe. The daily net dust load in PM10 attributable to an African episode in a given region can be obtained by subtracting the daily regional background (RB) level from the PM10 concentration value at an RB station. As demonstrated in this paper, the daily RB level can be obtained by applying a monthly moving 30th percentile to the PM10 time series at an RB station after a prior extraction of the data of the days with African dust transport. The daily PM10 RB levels obtained can be subtracted from the daily PM10 levels recorded at the same RB site only on days when the occurrence of African dust outbreaks was demonstrated, the difference being the daily net African dust load. It is thus possible to quantify the African dust contribution during an African PM event in southern Europe without the need for PM speciation. The validation of this methodology was performed by comparing the estimated net dust load during African dust outbreaks at three RB stations and the crustal load determined by chemical speciation of PM10 filters. The correlation (r 2>0.6) and the equivalence (correlation lines’ slopes ∼1) were significant in the three cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article puts into question the developmental potential of violence. Regarded as pernicious and a barrier to development, the use of violence is increasingly discouraged in many modern societies. Despite this, some academics continue to argue the crucial role violence, particularly war, played in the formation of European nation-states. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between war and state formation as experienced in early Europe, and to examine the inapplicability of the "war makes states" theory to the development of post-colonial Africa. The paper argues that due to significant differences in the contexts wherein the development processes transpired, war can not be assumed to facilitate development in Africa as it once did in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet usage among adolescents has increased substantially over the last years, concurrently with emerging concerns that an abusive use is associated with detrimental health outcomes. Our objective was to examine the association between age of first exposure and heavy Internet usage in different domains. Data from the 2018 wave of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) were retrieved. This included a total of 317,443 participants (49.2% boys) aged 15 and 16 years from 52 countries. Data from both Internet use and age of first exposure were retrieved and used to conduct metanalyses with random effects. Adolescents reporting an age of first exposure of Internet usage at ≥ 13 years old had the lowest odds for heavy Internet use (> 2 h/day) (reference group: ≤ 9 years) during weekends (odds ratio, 0.41 [95% CI, 0.35–0.48]), weekdays (odds ratio, 0.45 [95% CI, 0.37–0.56]), and during school time (odds ratio (odds ratio, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.77–0.96]) even when adjusted for sex, socioeconomic status, and country. A stronger association was observed in adolescents from South and Central America and Eastern Mediterranean regions in the domain of weekends and weekdays. The results indicate that early internet exposure is associated with heavy Internet use, particularly during weekends and weekdays, regardless the geographical region, in a linear fashion. Further research should aim to examine if better education and parental control in specific areas may avoid excessive Internet use that possibly have a negative influence on both mental and physical health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have examined the mortality of immigrants from Europe to Africa in the nineteenth century. This paper examines the level of mortality in Liberia of Africans who emigrated there from the United States. A life table is estimated from data collected by the American Colonization Society from 1820 to 1843. The analysis reflects the mortality experience of a population that is transplanted from one disease environment to another, more exacting, disease environment. The results of this analysis show that these Liberian immigrants experienced the highest mortality rates in accurately recorded human history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on nationalism in United States. There are scores of new States in Asia and Africa that are trying to set up free societies. It is a "new birth of freedom" on a grand scale. It is in fact freedom's greatest test, for it involves the older free regimes of Europe and the United States. If truth counts over charity, then one must point out that the new States will fail, if not all, then all but a few. Some are already succumbing to the initial perils of liberty that the last paper of the Federalist warned Americans against: "anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious demagogue." The real wonder is in believing that national unity could ever arise in freedom among the many units that nowadays arrogate to themselves the name of nation. They are nations only to the map maker. Many are areas marked off only for colonial administrative convenience; some have dozens, even hundreds, of languages, several antagonistic religions; a still uncounted welter of tribes living in mutual ignorance or traditional war; and above all there stands the great gulf between the village primitive and the urban modern.

Using an ecological perspective, one aspect of the relationship of social distance and physical distance is analyzed in the three largest cities in Israel. The principal aim of the paper is to examine ethnic (country of origin) residential segregation as an indicator of social patterning within the society. Despite the different demographic, topographical and functional characteristics of the three cities, fairly similar patterns of ethnic segregation are found using the technique of Smallest Space Analysis (SSA-I) to analyze index of dissimilarity matrices. Patterns of ethnic segregation are then related to the SES of sub-quarters to determine the nature of the internal structure of the cities. It is suggested that ethnicity is an important variable in the process of social stratification in urban Israel, at least insofar as ecological relationships are concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to derive a method for a daily gross primary production (GPP) product over Europe and Africa taking the full advantage of the SEVIRI/MSG satellite products from the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) sensors delivered from the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF) system. Special attention is paid to model the daily GPP response from an optimized Montheith's light use efficiency model under dry conditions by controlling water shortage limitations from the actual evapotranspiration and the potential evapotranspiration (PET). The PET was parameterized using the mean daily air temperature at 2 m ( T a ) from ERA-Interim data. The GPP product (MSG GPP) was produced for 2012 and assessed by direct site-level comparison with GPP from eddy covariance data (EC GPP). MSG GPP presents relative bias errors lower than 40% for the most forest vegetation types with a high agreement ( r > 0.7) when compared with EC GPP. For drylands, MSG GPP reproduces the seasonal variations related to water limitation in a good agreement with site level GPP estimates (RMSE = 2.11 g m −2 day −1 ; MBE = −0.63 g m −2 day −1 ), especially for the dry season. A consistency analysis against other GPP satellite products (MOD17A2 and FLUXCOM) reveals a high consistency among products (RMSD < 1.5 g m −2 day −1 ) over Europe, North and South Africa. The major GPP disagreement arises over moist biomes in central Africa (RMSD > 3.0 g m −2 day −1 ) and over dry biomes with MSG GPP estimates lower than FLUXCOM (MBD up to −3.0 g m −2 day −1 ). This newly derived product has the potential for analysing spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of GPP at the MSG spatial resolutions on a daily basis allowing to better capture the GPP dynamics and magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research are globally recognised as engines of growth and development and indicators of citizens' well-being. Studies have continuously highlighted the unequal access and participation in STEM higher education based on class, caste, gender, disability and other markers of identity. This research paper investigates the underrepresentation of women in STEM at the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) in India. IITs are India's top elite institutions that open window of opportunities to students across the world. The study uses the data available from the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE), the Council of Indian Institute of Technology and the websites of the IITs. The findings indicate a significant gap between males and females in faculty positions at IITs. Furthermore, the study finds that the underrepresentation of women faculty differs across the STEM disciplines at IITs in India. It needs more gender-just affirmative action policies such as intersectional reservation for women in STEM academic careers, funding, legal protection against harassment, and representation of women in various committees and leadership positions.

Research on augmented reality (AR) in education is gaining momentum worldwide. This field has been actively growing over the past decades in terms of the research and development of new technologies. Reviews in the field of AR in education consist of systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses (around 45), surveys (around 33), and only one bibliometric analysis. However, these reviews do not provide a general synthesis of the research published in the field to depict its evolution over the years. This study used the metadata of articles from a 25-year period (1995-2020) to conduct a bibliometric analysis. A total of 3,475 studies were considered. In this study, we used tools such as the Scopus database, the bibliometrix R package, and the VOSviewer analysis tool. The analysis of the literature is based on the metadata, author, content, and citation information extracted from the dataset. In addition, we focus on comparing literature published mainly in journals (articles, articles in press, and reviews) and those published in other sources (conference papers, books, and book chapters). Practitioners could use the results of this study to make decisions about the adoption of AR technologies in education.

Surprisingly, distance education is quite an old concept. Its origins date back to the first correspondence-based course, which took place via the postal service in Boston, USA, in the 18th century. Rapid technological developments, especially in video and audio streaming, have increased the availability of such courses and moved learning into the virtual world. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing an accelerated revolution in the learning process, as nearly all forms of education have been shifted online. Will this have a destructive effect on the human psyche? Is humanity sufficiently aware and ready for such a dramatic change? Will we return to physical in-classroom studies, or is remote distance education set to become the new norm? In particular, in medicine, computer science, fine arts, or architectural design, such a rapid change in the way students learn can be quite challenging. In this paper, we provide an overview of the history of distance learning, taking into account teachers' and students' points of view in both secondary and higher education.

Historical cultural practices that no longer exist can have modern day effects. Because communism has been linked with distrust of government, it was hypothesized that (a) historical communism would be negatively associated with COVID-19 vaccination rates, and (b) trust in government would mediate the association. Two studies assessed these hypotheses. Study 1 tested the hypotheses among European, Asian, and African countries, while Study 2 focused on East and West Germany within Europe. All samples except Africa found support for an association between historical communism and lower COVID-19 vaccination rates. However, trust in government did not mediate the association in Study 1, though a significant indirect effect did emerge within Germany in Study 2. Associations held controlling for GDP and age of population. Together, the studies suggest that historical communism in Europe and Asia is associated with real-world behavior today, and that trust in government might be partly responsible for the effect within Germany but less likely within Europe as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The burden of health and safety related issues emanating from the modern workplace is overwhelming. Although the prevailing statistics found in the literature show that victims of workplace fatalities and injuries are higher in developing countries and transition economies, there is a very limited understanding of the causal factors that may correspond to the continuous increase in the occupational exposure of employees to various fatalities and injuries. The purpose of this study was to review the literature on occupational safety of workers with the objective of highlighting the major causal factors of workplace injuries and fatalities from a multi-regional perspective, particularly on job-contexts with highest safety and health related hazards. Methodology: A systematic review of the literature was conducted on 73 empirical studies in the regions of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and the Americas (the US & Canada). Findings: The results showed that the highest number of injuries and fatalities were mostly found in the construction industry. It further emerged that most of the studies were centered in developing countries within Africa and Asia. Other results and recommendations were discussed for each region. Value: The findings from this study have the potential to expose the regional dynamics in relation to safety in the workplace. This study also addresses the main areas of concern for stakeholders to promote organizational development and safety culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advocacy is one of the core functions of public health and is a key tool for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Public health associations play a key role in advocating for the development and implementation of strategies to prevent diseases and promote health and well-being. This study aims to map out the focus of public health advocacy carried out by selected national public health associations over 4 years, between 2018 and 2021, in order to identify gaps and strengths and support associations and professionals in their advocacy efforts. Twelve national public health associations participated in the study. Official policy documents produced between 2018 and 2021 were collected and analysed. The title and summary of the policy documents were examined line by line and coded into the main subject categories and themes. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. Policies were assessed from global and regional perspectives. A total of 220 policy documents were analysed. Overall, the largest number of policy documents came from high-income countries and dealt with environmental health and communicable diseases, including COVID-19, with, however, important differences among regions. In the African region, public health advocacy focused mainly on strengthening health systems; Europe and South America were mostly concerned with communicable diseases and pandemic management; and North America and the Western Pacific regions focused primarily on climate change. Limited attention was paid to international health and health as a human right in all regions. Our study showed that, especially in high-income countries, public health associations actively engage in advocacy; however, more effort needs to be devoted to implementing a more international and intersectoral approach at the global level, anchored in health as a human right and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing proportion of immigrants enter Canada on temporary resident permits to study or work, or they enter as asylum seekers—all with limited rights or access to permanent residence. As a result, transnational family separation is a growing phenomenon among immigrants who are unable to migrate as a family or who face barriers to family reunification. Using a systems-centered intersectional lens, the authors examine pathways to transnational family separation among immigrant women who arrived in Canada with precarious immigration status. Analysis draws from qualitative interviews with 35 immigrant women living in different regions of Ontario, Canada. Through examining intersecting social systems and processes, the authors analyze how transnational family separation is constituted through embedded gendered, racial, and class processes in Canada's immigration system and labor market, which normalize family separation as a common experience for racialized immigrants in Canada. Given the harms associated with prolonged family separation, the authors urge the social work profession to advocate for immigration policies that prioritize family reunification and uphold the rights of migrants to maintain family unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]