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Background: Communities and groups based on person‐centred theoretical principles are often a core part of counselling and psychotherapy training within this modality, yet no research has been undertaken that considers these groups as a community of practice. Furthermore, no research has been undertaken that explores the impact of these groups when they are run alongside, rather than as part of, the curriculum. Aims: This study explores our experiences of facilitating a community of practice for trainee personcentred/experiential therapists that focused on critical thinking skills. This community was established over a 12‐week period and was attended by students from across 3‐year groups. Methods: Using collaborative autoethnography to explore these encounters, we identify four key aspects of our experience of this community. Results: The following aspects were identified: (1) Fecund and Fruitful—A Space for Growth; (2) Freedom to Learn; (3) Jenga!—Navigating the Dimensions of Community Facilitator; and (4) Power and Control. Discussion: This study centres on the idea of student‐centred learning as a way of challenging hegemonic notions of education and learning within higher educational settings. Conclusion: These findings could help others set up and facilitate other communities of practice based on person‐centred principles, in counselling and psychotherapy training, or other associated fields of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals' lives depend heavily on their freedom, which is why they may respond with reactance if freedom is threatened. Our research, which spans four studies with 1,486 Chinese students as participants, from the perspective of psychological reactance theory, provides evidence that positive gender stereotypes can provoke targets' negative reactions. In Study 1, participants who heard a speaker state a positive gender stereotype (e.g., "women are beautiful" and "men are strong") disliked the speaker more, believed that the speaker was more gender prejudiced, and experienced stronger negative emotions than those who heard no stereotype. In Studies 2−4, freedom threat was a crucial mediator in the relation between the positive gender stereotype and targets' negative reactions. Furthermore, depersonalization also played a parallel mediating role. Although positive gender stereotypes seem superficially complimentary, they may have detrimental effects on interpersonal relations. Our research suggests that people should refrain from using stereotypes in their interpersonal interactions whenever possible. Even though people may sometimes inevitably convey positive stereotypes to others, they should be given the freedom to minimize the negative consequences of such stereotypes. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/DOI: 10.1177/03616843241242711 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a paper about time travel and what it teaches us about freedom. I argue that cases of time travel bring out an important difference between two ways of thinking about "the past"—either in terms of time itself, or in terms of causation. This ambiguity naturally transfers over to our talk about things like fixity, determinism, and incompatibilism. Moreover, certain cases of time travel suggest that our freedom is not constrained by the temporal past per se, but by our own causal histories. This, in turn, raises a number of interesting questions about the formulation of incompatibilism and the broader debate over freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the dialectics of freedom in the poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats and its connection with the concepts of truth and beauty according to interpretations by philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx. It discusses Hegel's aesthetics in reading the poem as an embodiment of subjectivity and transcendence of freedom in Romantic art drawing from the Eleusinian mystery. It examines the Marxian aesthetics oriented around historicity and immanence of freedom.

Considering the paradoxes of freedom/liberty, the author proposes to correlate freedom and liberty as “abstract” and “concrete freedom” in Hegel. The first involves the ability to do what you want, regardless of social rules and customs; the second is freedom, limited and at the same time supported by a set of social norms. The gap between these concepts constitutes the space of actual freedom, creating a tension between the universality of the law and attempts to formulate exceptions to it. There are prohibitions that can only be expected to be violated privately, and even those whose existence cannot even be publicly reported. An important function of such prohibitions is to maintain appearances, and not necessarily only in non-democratic regimes — a modern boss may demonstrate that they are only the first among equals, but in fact they remain our boss. Here relations of domination function through their negation: we are not only obligated to obey, but also obligated to act as if domination does not exist. Perhaps today more than ever, the mechanism of censorship intervenes primarily to enhance the effectiveness of the discourse of power itself. In modern capitalism, hegemonic ideology includes critical knowledge, thereby neutralizing its effectiveness: critical distance in relation to the social order is the very medium through which it reproduces itself. Thus, art biennales, positioned as a form of resistance to global capitalism, actually turn into an act of capitalist self-reproduction. Illustrating the way of liberation through giving up what you desire most, the author analyzes the case of Malcolm X. Choosing X as a surname is a demonstration of a new (lack of) identity, this gesture makes white dominance meaningless, turns it into a game without a partner, without whom the game itself is impossible. True liberation, then, by definition involves symbolic suicide

The essay analyzes how F. Hayek’s economic proposal is fundamental for Bolsonarism in Brazil. It examines aspects of Hayek’s according to his statements about Brazilian politics in the 1970s. It introduces two of those responsible for Hayek’s popularization in Brazil, and then examines how the theoretical principles of Liberty are inconsistent with its actual practices. It shows how this conception of Freedom is essential for Bolsonarism to propose a general privatization of relationships as a safeguard for a protected personal sphere and a basis for the foundation of a new politics.

This article proposes a modular and passive all-metal lens to achieve near-field focusing with adjustable focus. The proposed lens consists of all-metal units with the phase coverage range exceeding 360°, and the arrangement of units is guided by the phase compensation method. Specifically, using the strategy of module unit synthesis, the arrangement of lens units under different focuses can be assembled arbitrarily, which reduces the production costs by 39.3% and improves the freedom of lens design. The simulation and experimental results show that the lens exhibits excellent focusing properties and freely changes the position of the expected focus (0.30 m–0.75 m). Therefore, the modular all-metal lens designed in this article has the characteristics of high transparency and a high degree of freedom, which can provide low-cost and lightweight solutions for various applications in the field of antennas, such as near-field target detection, microwave imaging, biomedicine, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide. This study examined the effect of a spiritual connectivity intervention on individuals with depression in a randomized waitlist-controlled trial. Fifty-seven participants with mild or moderate depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 28) or the waitlist control group (n = 29). The intervention comprised eight weekly sessions focusing on divine connection, forgiveness and freedom, suffering and transcendence, hope, gratitude, and relapse prevention. The outcome measures included depressive symptoms, anxiety, hope, meaning in life, self-esteem, and social support. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires at baseline (week 0), post-intervention (week 8), and 3-month follow-up (week 20). Repeated-measures ANOVA and one-way ANCOVA were used to compare the within-group and between-group differences in the changes in outcome variables. Participants in the intervention group showed significant improvements in depression, anxiety, spiritual experience, hope, self-esteem, and perceived social support after the intervention. Effect size statistics showed small to large differences (Cohen's d, 0.308 to −1.452). Moreover, 85.71% of participants in the intervention group also experienced clinically significant reductions in PHQ-9 scores from baseline to immediate post-intervention. This study highlights the effectiveness of a low-cost, accessible intervention suitable for community implementation by clergy and faith-based organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Love and freedom in the complex analytic system and the positive relationship between them are at the center of this paper. I argue that restriction or expansion of one impacts the other. I define freedom as an expansion of perspectives and the loving gaze as the vitalizing experience at the core of recognition and an indicator of movement away or toward recognition. Field theory, specifically post-Bionian Field Theory, and Storying are highlighted to support the emergence of both freedom and the loving gaze. Clinical examples are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most voluntary actions have only few goals, which provides considerable freedom in the selection of action parameters. Recent studies showed that task-irrelevant aspects of the task context influence the motor parameters of the actions in a way which seems to reflect the relative importance of these aspects within the underlying action representation. The present study investigated how the intensity of auditory action-effects affected force exertion patterns in a self-paced action production task. Participants applied force impulses with their index finger on a force-sensitive resistor every three seconds. In four separate conditions, force impulses elicited no sound, or elicited tones with 69, 59 or 49 dB intensity. The results showed that participants applied more force when tone intensity was lower, and when tones were absent. These force differences were also present in the first 60 ms following tone onset, implying that these reflected differences in motor planning. The results are compatible with the notion that actions are represented in terms of their sensory effects, which are weighted differently—presumably to maintain an optimal level of overall auditory and tactile stimulation in the present case. These results hint at the potential usefulness of motor parameters as readouts of action intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how American abolitionists reacted to the Haitian Revolution between the start of the Revolution in 1791 till the passage of Congressional legislation banning trade with Haiti in 1806. Abolitionists' reactions to the Revolution illustrate some of the unifying and dividing ideas deeply imbedded within the abolition movement. The Haitian Revolution did not create the divisions between abolitionists, but rather brought to the forefront divides that had already existed from the formation of the movement. Importantly, this article illustrates how dichotomic framings of American abolitionism as either radical or conservative are insufficient to explain the diversity of thought within the movement, as reflected in abolitionists' reactions to Haiti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Katja Castillo approaches the phenomenon of teaching through an analysis of Emmanuel Levinas's unedited conference notes titled "Les nourritures," "Les enseignements," and "L'écrit et l'oral." Levinas's thinking prior to the publication of his major works provides an entry point to his philosophy. In this light Castillo interprets his conference notes as laying the groundwork for the argument he develops later in Totality and Infinity. Drawing on the notes, she describes the phenomenon of teaching as a place to bracket subjective freedom in order to let the other call it into question. The phenomenon of teaching serves as a way to describe the relationship between the same and the other. It is, according to Levinas, a unique interplay between interiority and exteriority, where subjective freedom is intertwined with responsibility to the other, with having to answer to the other. He describes the structure of teaching as characterized by six parts: by being given a past, by reflection, by penetration of freedom, by critical spirit, by transcendence of teaching, and as true symbolism. Following the discussion of Levinas's early writings, Castillo returns to his first major work, Totality and Infinity published in 1961, with the intention of examining the evolution of his phenomenological attitude over time. This approach reveals that Levinas's engagement in formulating a philosophy of education was more robust than previous research has indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic literature review (1) investigates whether 'serious games' provide a viable solution to the limitations posed by traditional high-stakes performance assessments and (2) aims to synthesize game design principles for the game-based performance assessment of professional competencies. In total, 56 publications were included in the final review, targeting knowledge, motor skills and cognitive skills and further narrowed down to teaching, training or assessing professional competencies. Our review demonstrates that serious games are able to provide an environment and task authentic to the target competency. Collected in-game behaviors indicate that serious games are able to elicit behavior that is related to a candidates' ability level. Progress feedback and freedom of gameplay in serious games can be implemented to provide an engaging and enjoyable environment for candidates. Few studies examined adaptivity and some examined serious games without an authentic environment or task. Overall, the review gives an overview of game design principles for game-based performance assessment. It highlights two research gaps regarding authenticity and adaptivity and concludes with three implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that there is an incompatibility between the two basic principles of Molinism, i.e., God's middle knowledge of counterfactuals of creaturely freedom, and divine immutability. To this end, firstly, we set out the difference between strong and weak immutability: according to the latter only God's essential attributes remain unchanged, while the former affirms that God cannot change in any way. Our next step is to argue that Molinism ascribes strong immutability to God. However, according to Molinism, some counterfactuals of freedom need to be actualized by divine will. We argue that this claim does entail a change in God because it attributes a knowledge to God that involves moving from possibility to actuality through divine will. Therefore, claiming God knows counterfactuals of freedom leads us to reject the strong sense of divine immutability. Further, we argue that assuming God's knowledge encompasses counterfactuals of freedom cannot be consistent even with weak immutability because, according to Molinism, a change in God's knowledge requires a change in His essence. We conclude that Molinism is incoherent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberal democracies hold in tension two socio-political values, liberty and equality, with the understanding that prioritizing one often means sacrificing the other. In the United States, views on which value to prioritize (and even how to define them) are shaped by the intersections of race, gender, and religion. We theorize Christian nationalism’s association with prioritizing equality or liberty is contingent on Americans’ racial and gender identities, and specifically, their status as majority- or minority-group members. Though Christian nationalism in general is associated with prioritizing liberty over equality, results reveal clear racial, gender, and race-gender divergence. Unlike non-Black Americans, Black Americans do not prioritize liberty as Christian nationalism increases, and women are less likely to do so than men. The most striking pattern, however, appears at the intersection of race and gender: unlike every other race-gender combination, Black women are more likely to prioritize equality over liberty as Christian nationalism increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Wollstonecraft's early writings, she articulates the foundational theological and philosophical principles that would underpin her work throughout her career. One difference between her early and later work lies in the way that the values to which she refers are combined. Whereas Wollstonecraft at first appeals to the separate ideals of independence, equality, and virtue, from the 1790s onwards she integrates these into a characteristic republican framework that was in common use amongst dissenting theorists at the time. The set of values on which Wollstonecraft draws, and the version of the republican framework that she develops, closely resemble those of Richard Price with whose work she was familiar. Examining the structural similarities between their respective models, I argue, gives us an insight into the systematic manner of aspects of Wollstonecraft's own thought. It also allows us to see how Wollstonecraft goes beyond the republicanism of Price and others as she develops her own feminist solutions to the problems of structural domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the writing, and lives, of two women, Wollstonecraft and the contemporary writer Catrina Davies. It focuses on their experience of trying to live independent, creative and worthwhile lives under social and economic conditions of precarity and debt which curtail their aspirations to freedom. Wollstonecraft's critique of property relations and of commercial society echoes through Davies's experience of navigating the current housing crisis and struggling to make a decent income from her writing. In Newington Green in the 1780s and a coastal Cornish village in the 2010s, the paper explores what it means for women's freedom when the monies will not answer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A parameterization of a triangle mesh is a realization in the plane so that all triangles have positive signed area. Triangle mesh parameterizations are commonly computed by minimizing a distortion energy, measuring the distortions of the triangles as they are mapped into the parameter domain. It is assumed that the triangulation is fixed and the triangles are mapped affinely. We consider a more general setup and additionally optimize among the intrinsic triangulations of the piecewise linear input geometry. This means the distortion energy is computed for the same geometry, yet the space of possible parameterizations is enlarged. For minimizing the distortion energy, we suggest alternating between varying the parameter locations of the vertices and intrinsic flipping. We show that this process improves the mapping for different distortion energies at moderate additional cost. We also find intrinsic triangulations that are better starting points for the optimization of positions, offering a compromise between the full optimization approach and exploiting the additional freedom of intrinsic triangulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organ shortage continues to present problems around the world including the United States. In response, some countries have switched from an opt-in organ donor registry to an opt-out registry. The United States currently utilizes an opt-in registry where an individual is not considered an organ donor until they register their intentions. In the current study, U.S. adults were randomly assigned to a 2 (message valence: promotional, refutational) x 2 (autonomy restoration postscript: present, not present) x 2 (social proof: high likes, low likes) posttest only control group design evaluating social media message regarding an opt-out organ donor registry for implementation in the U.S. Results revealed an interaction between message valence and autonomy on freedom threat perceptions toward the message. Consistent with psychological reactance theory, freedom threat perceptions were positively associated with reactance, which in turn was positively associated with an intention to sign a petition and call a representative to voice disapproval of the opt-out organ donor registry. The discussion is focused on pragmatic recommendations for organ donor practitioners and advocates as well as the theoretical contributions to reactance theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health communication scholars have provided ample evidence demonstrating the ways in which freedom-threatening language used in persuasive health messages evokes freedom-threat perceptions, state psychological reactance, and intentions to engage in behaviors opposite of those recommended by the health message. This study examined a novel mitigation strategy for diminishing these outcomes. We examined whether prior exposure to entertainment portrayals of moral virtue (versus a neutral video) can dampen audiences' psychological reactance, intentions to consume alcohol, and defensive message processing via their psychophysiological responses to a subsequent, freedom-threatening excessive alcohol consumption public service announcement (PSA). The results revealed that participants who viewed entertainment portrayals of moral virtue (N = 50 college-aged participants) self-reported higher levels of elevation, moved, and inspiration relative to participants in the control condition (N = 50 college-aged participants). Participants who were exposed to entertainment portrayals of moral virtue prior to the excessive alcohol consumption PSA also self-reported less psychological reactance and fewer behavioral intentions to consume alcohol following the excessive alcohol consumption PSA than participants in the control condition. Consistent with these self-report data, participants in the entertainment portrayals of moral virtue condition exhibited less defensive message processing of the excessive alcohol consumption PSA via their psychophysiological responses relative to the control group. The results indicate that initial exposure to entertainment portrayals of moral virtue can dampen audiences' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to a subsequent, freedom-threatening health message, thereby increasing the chances of improved health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) and its connection to abortion rights and religious freedom in the United States. The RFMA was passed in response to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's concurring opinion to the Dobbs v. Jackson case which revoked federal abortion rights and suggested the Supreme Court reevaluate similar decisions based on due process, like Obergefell which guaranteed the federal right to same-sex marriage. This article showcases how the passage of the RFMA is a masterclass in U.S. policymaking and discusses the implications of the RFMA as well as considerations should Obergefell go the way of Dobbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David Hume alluded to the politics of slaveholding throughout his career and was among the first to observe that the republican tradition has an awkward relationship with slavery. This article places Hume's critique of Roman slavery in conversation with recent debates over "neo-Roman" liberty, paying special attention to Hume's complaint that some republican advocates for political liberty have also apologized for personal slavery. Most of Hume's direct comments on slaveholding appear in the 1752 essay, "Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations," where Hume criticized Roman slavery for its negative effects on population growth. But more was at stake than ancient demography. Even abolitionists who abhorred Hume's racism still drew upon his argument against ancient slavery—which they read as a commentary on the modern colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractNew political parties can sometimes achieve remarkable election results. The 2022 parliamentary elections in Slovenia highlight that while appeals centred around anti-corruption, competence and newness contributed to the Freedom Movement’s ability to win over one third of the vote, its victory owed much to tactical voting. Data from a specially commissioned survey conducted immediately after the election highlight that voters jumped on the new party bandwagon as the best vehicle to defeat the incumbent prime minister’s party. Voters’ tactical choices help explain not just the appeal of new parties and the continuation of the new party subsystem in Slovenia but also the wider instability of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remarkable cultural vitality of Star Wars and the subsequent franchise is due in part to the way in which it simultaneously builds on and bolsters the Gramscian "common sense" that America is not an empire. Like the Western, Star Wars uses apolitical individualism to portray political actions as the result of individuals' search for freedom, while representing the galaxy as home to a single, evil Empire. These narrative mechanisms, invite the viewers of Star Wars to think of the United States as a ragtag group of fighters battling an oppressive empire, but not itself an empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study experimentally investigated the effect of dogmatic and suggestive language in Christian-sourced excessive alcohol consumption messages among college-aged participants who identify as Christians or non-Christians, as well as the role of perceived similarity with the message source, on their self-reported freedom-threat, psychological reactance, and behavioral intentions to consume alcohol. The results from this study support psychological reactance theory and demonstrate the various message strategies to effectively communicate the negative health effects of excessive alcohol consumption to individuals who identify either as Christians or non-Christians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the condition necessary to guarantee no divergence for Caputo's fractional order gradient descent (C-FOG) algorithm on multivariate functions. C-FOG is self-organizing, computationally efficient, simple, and understandable. It converges faster than the classical gradient-based optimization algorithms and converges to slightly different points when the order of the fractional derivative is different. The additional freedom of the order is very useful in situations where the diversity of convergence is required, and it also allows for more precise convergence. Comparative experiments on a typical poor conditioned function and adversarial sample generation frameworks demonstrate the convergence performance of C-FOG, showing that it outperforms currently popular algorithms in terms of convergence speed, and more excitingly, the diversity of convergence allows it to exhibit stronger and more stable attack capability in adversarial sample generation procedures (The code for experiments is available at: https://github.com/mulertan/self%5foptimizing/tree/main , accessed on 30 April 2024). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Society of Critical Care Medicine has established guidelines to manage pain, sedation, delirium, immobility, family participation, and sleep disruption in the intensive care unit, a set of interventions known as the intensive care unit liberation (ABCDEF) bundle. Adherence to these guidelines has shown positive results. Local Problem: In the intensive care units of a level I trauma academic teaching hospital in central Texas, the rate of bedside nursing staff adherence to the ABCDEF bundle was only 67.1% in January 2022. The aim of this quality improvement project was to improve adherence to the bundle. Methods: Knowledge gaps were found to be the driver of the low adherence rate. Two primary needs were identified: (1) education on the elements of the ABCDEF bundle and (2) increased awareness and recognition of incomplete and incorrect documentation. Interventions included focused education on intensive care unit liberation. Results: From February to June 2022, overall adherence to the ABCDEF bundle increased from 67.1% to 95.3%, ventilator use decreased by approximately 10%, and restraint use dropped by about 9%. The incidence of delirium increased, but this increase was due to incorrect patient assessment before the interventions. Conclusion: The results of this project are consistent with literature demonstrating that a multifaceted approach to improving ABCDEF bundle adherence can produce sustainable improvement in patient outcomes. This report may help other organizations facing similar challenges improve adherence to the bundle in a postpandemic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In John 10:7-10, Jesus promises that he has come so that we may have life in all its fullness. This article examines life in its fullness from an Anglican perspective, articulating a Christian ethic that asserts freedom, voice, identity, and an opportunity to flourish are essential components to such a life. Life experiences illuminate ways in which the choice about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy helped define full life for both mothers and children. These insights grow out of experiences working in a teenage parent program in Florida and as the director of a family planning clinic in the rural west. The premise of the article is that both scripture and our Anglican tradition imagine life to mean more than just subsistence, and that current prohibitions on abortion, even before fetus viability, thwart Christ's vision for life, most poignantly for women and children in poor and rural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay draws a double parallel between two juxtaposed concepts. The first is between sections of modern Christianity, who use political power and force to deny people's rights and create suffering by restricting or removing their freedom to choose, and classes depicted in the Gospel (namely Pharisees and Romans) who use power and force as a means to create barriers and domination, both of them dependent on specific, potentially flawed readings of Scripture. The second is between people such as myself, an Episcopalian lay leader in my church and supporter of a person's right to choose an abortion, and the original followers of Jesus, who employed a ministry of action based around embracing all humanity in a drive to create a more equitable world and physically show love and acceptance to those struggling under secular domination and oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most consequential distinction Habermas draws between Marx's and his own utopia of emancipation is that societal differentiation, in the former, is dissolved into the lifeworld, whereas in the latter it is preserved as an accomplishment of and necessary for the reproduction of modern complex societies. Despite Habermas's intention and arguments, his radical democratic utopia entails lifeworldization—in which the primacy of communicative reason is affirmed in all spheres of action as well as societal integration, which, however, can take a variety of modi operandi ranging from external influence to direct communicative coordination. This article makes a case for the lifeworldization thesis with the following arguments. First, contrary to Habermas's intention, "influence" and "countersteering," if successfully asserted, result in an ontological condition that amounts to lifeworldization. Second, Habermas's defense of differentiation and critique of dedifferentiation, which is predicated on his critique of society as a totality, is discredited by his own argument for the need of (re)integration of complexities of modern society and its necessary normative grounding. Third, the prescription of keeping the "internal logic" of steering media intact as constitutive of radical democracy is problematic both empirically and normatively. Fourth, for the functional coherence of radical democracy, "efficiency," conceived systems-theoretically, must be abandoned and, instead, be reconceived postmetaphysically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of international mindedness (IM) underscores international baccalaureate (IB) programmes and acts as a universal principle for teaching and learning. Despite its prioritisation, it is unclear how practitioners, parents, and students enact IM in schools individually and collectively. In this article, I present research highlighting the development of IM in an IB school. The research findings prioritise an international approach to education reliant on the distillation of values, the rationalisation of transparency and overcoming self-determinism. These findings are further analysed through Jürgen Habermas' (1991) theory of communicative action illustrating the breadth and depth of IM application, including its emancipatory potential. My analysis shows that while the international school community members agree with the fundamentals of the IB's frameworks, they note the challenges of IM practice influenced by the steering powers of IB corporatism. This article will interest educators, leaders and policymakers seeking penetrative interpretations of international education and critical praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the facilitation of the emancipatory in an International Baccalaureate (IB) context of privilege. It aligns with the idea that capitalism, even in welfare state democracies or 'do good' corporations, maintains the interests of the owners of capital. It is by nature unjust and exploitative and must conceal this injustice by securing a (spurious) legitimacy for itself. This makes a rare methodological contribution as the article provides critical 'meta-analysis' of IB research literature by prioritising work that affords insight into the lived reality within the IB-Sphere. It then triangulates this analysis through the work of German Social Philosopher Jürgen Habermas. This work provides a significant and timely contribution to 'franchised education' in the twenty-first Century, and will be of essential reading to scholars, policymakers and leadership whether involved in the IB, or active in the Neo Liberal spaces of education more generally: such as Multi Trust Academies, Free Schools, or Charter Schools. This is thanks to the lessons learned over nearly 60 years of educational franchise in a diverse and globalising sphere as presented here from IB research through critical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three‐coil inductive power transfer (IPT) charging system can not only achieve inherent constant current (CC) to constant voltage (CV) transition but also tolerate load open‐circuit. However, due to the cross‐coupling between the auxiliary coil and the receiver coil, the output voltage in CV mode may deviate from the CV voltage significantly, which makes the design freedom of the three‐coil coupler low. By replacing the auxiliary coil with a transformer, an improved auxiliary circuit is proposed in this paper to address the cross‐coupling issue and to increase the design freedom of the loosely coupled transformer (LCT). The improved auxiliary circuit can achieve load short‐circuit and open‐circuit protection. Besides, the optimization design of LCT is easy to achieve by load impedance matching. The operating principle and parameters design of the improved auxiliary circuit are discussed. A 1 kW experimental prototype is built to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Environment Act 2021 presents a valuable case study of the importance and challenges of protecting foundational freedoms in the context of complex and ambiguous environmental legislation. This article argues that the common law principle of legality provides a vital tool for courts to uphold rights imperilled by climate volatility and environmental decline by presuming against rights-infringing interpretations of environmental statutes. Analysing key provisions of the Act and its associated Parliamentary processes, the article focuses on areas such as statutory language clarity, the scope of executive powers, and the framework for public participation. It explores how the principle of legality and other interpretive approaches could help to resolve these issues and ensure the Act is applied in a way that promotes environmental accountability. The article argues that the principle of legality has a crucial role to play in ensuring environmental law delivers on its promise to protect both the environment and foundational freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of legal certainty serves as a crucial safeguard, preventing rights and freedoms from being lost in a vast, complex, and often unstable legal framework. This study delves into the gap in Algerian law between the constitutional text ensuring the legal certainty of rights and freedoms and the lack of detailed measures to implement this provision. By examining how each certainty requirement of rights legislation is applied within the national legal landscape, the study uncovers significant deficiencies in ensuring citizens' easy access to legislation encompassing their rights and freedoms. Addressing these challenges necessitates the implementation of various legal and technical measures. Furthermore, ensuring the clarity of these laws demands a systematic review process to rectify any drafting flaws. Legislative stability, closely linked to legality in the Algerian constitution, benefits from relatively reliable guarantees in the field of fundamental rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Storytelling is an effective art of forging new ideas and cultural practices. Cinema, being a story teller through visual narrative plays significant role in representing social norms and thoughts. It mirrors the socio-cultural and political issues in conscious or unconscious ways. Cinema as a part of popular cultures, not only entertains the spectators but narrates the rising social problems, injustices, discriminations and projects solutions to the problems by instilling new ideas and thoughts in the minds of the mass. Apart from Bollywood and Tollywood, India have many regional film industries where woman film makers attempt to map the position of women and their psychology through the Lens. The main objective of this research paper is to study the oppression of women and their resistances in their subaltern condition with special reference to the two-woman film maker's film Parched and Lipstick Under My Burkha. Women in these films protest against the patriarchal dominance and gender inequality. They rise from their adverse positions and discover a path of emancipation by fighting the prevailing patriarchal hegemony. The result of the study shows that the women reject their subalternity by creating their own discourse and resolve a new purpose in life. The study asserts that being mistreated and discriminated in a phallocentric society; women should not think themselves as subaltern. Women have to rise above the hegemonic discourse by asserting their self-identity. The analysis is made through the lens of Gayatri Chakravorty's Can the Subaltern Speak? and Kate Millet's Sexual Politics along with the other feminist's perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate whether and to what extent different scenarios of rotational freedom in different IAC designs affect the vertical dimension of a three‐part fixed partial denture (FPD). At the same time, the experimental setup should simulate all clinical and laboratory steps of the implementation of such an FPD as accurately as possible. Material and Methods: Twenty identical pairs of jaw models were fabricated from aluminum, each lower‐jaw model holding two implants with conical or flat IACs. Three impressions of each model were taken to fabricate stone casts and three‐unit FPDs. Three assembly scenarios were compared for the vertical position stability they offered for these FPDs, differing by how the sequential implant components (impression posts > laboratory analogs > abutments 1 > abutments 2) were aligned with the positional index of the IAC. In this way, a total of 60 stone casts and FPDs were fabricated and statistically analyzed for changes in vertical dimension (p < 0.05). Results: Regardless of whether a conical/flat IAC was used (p > 0.05), significantly greater mean changes in vertical dimension were consistently (all comparisons p < 0.0001) found in a "worst‐case scenario" of component alignment alternating between the left‐ and right‐limit stop of the positional index (0.286/0.350 mm) than in a "random scenario" of 10 dentists and 10 technicians with varying levels of experience freely selecting the alignment (0.003/0.014 mm) or in a "best‐case scenario" of all components being aligned with the right‐limit stop (−0.019/0.005 mm). Conclusions: The likelihood of integrating a superstructure correctly in terms of vertical dimension appears to vary considerably more with assembly strategies than with IAC designs. Specifically, our findings warrant a recommendation that all implant components should be aligned with the right‐limit stop of the positioning index. Summary: What is Known: Tiny vertical deviations can result in substantial clinical problems.Little is known about the impact of implant‐abutment connection (IAC) designs and rotational freedom on the vertical dimension of implant‐supported restorations.Past experimental setups, rather than simulating the entire clinical process from impression‐taking to intraoral delivery, have remained confined to specific steps. What This Study Adds: A comprehensive experimental setup is introduced to analyze the vertical impact of IAC designs and rotational freedom on implant‐supported fixed restorations.We can recommend a consistent strategy of assembling implant components that will increase the chances of maintaining a correct vertical dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of nationalism as a rallying force for national consciousness and liberation in Africa is a long-standing prism. In South Africa, it is historically conceived as a mechanism for promoting the unity, right, and emancipation South Africans from colonialism and subsequently, the apartheid regime. Contrary to this positionality on nationalism, contemporary South Africa finds itself more divided along racial lines nearly three decades (28 years) after the end of the apartheid regime. This paper, using historical and descriptive analysis from qualitative data, assessed the perceptions and impact of nationalism in South Africa. It explored the changes in meaning of nationalism over time as well as the impact of such changes on post-apartheid struggles in South Africa's development. The findings of the paper showed that the continuous economic divide between the rich and poor as well as the incapacity of government to meet individual, household, and community needs and expectations has engineered over time, a lack of trust in government as saviour or mediator. There is also the rekindled mutual suspicion and hostility along racial line despite the projection of a =rainbow nation.' The paper concluded that an approach on constitutional patriotism, which encourages norm changes and loyalty shift from ethnic/national loyalty to national value and loyalty, would fit a multicultural setting as South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractNo single story can represent fully and comprehensively a complex historical movement such as the Civil Rights fight for freedom and social justice. Learning about this movement through multi-perspective biographical young adult graphic novels cultivates in students a nuanced understanding of this historical struggle, making it more concrete and relatable for student readers. In this article, we describe how teachers can use graphic novels from diverse perspectives for teaching the Civil Rights Movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many liberal philosophers claim that people are free to do as they will by default; any interference must be justified. This supposed presumption of liberty does a significant amount of theoretical work for public reason liberals such as Gerald Gaus and John Rawls. This paper shows that Gaus’s explicit defense of a presumption of liberty fails. Gausa and his many followers repeatedly appeal to a particular thought experiment from Stanley Benn. We argue that this thought experiment fails to show that there is a presumption of liberty, but instead shows, at best, the trivial point that when any particular moral concern is specified to be the only relevant concern, then there is a presumption in favor of that concern. Further, Gaus, along with Shaun Nichols, has tried to demonstrate empirically that the intuitions and conclusions he draws from this example are fairly uniform and universal among other moral agents, but we explain why their experimental results do not vindicate any such conclusion. We conclude that undermining the alleged presumption of liberty places public reason liberalism in serious jeopardy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hybrid working arrangements that combine remote and office work are on the rise. Although hybrid work has been associated with mental health benefits in employees, challenges in the transformation to hybrid persist particularly in public administration organizations which have been connected to a pronounced culture of presence and inadequate technical infrastructure. Further evidence on the link between hybrid working conditions and employee health is needed. To support the establishment of healthy hybrid working conditions, this study aims to identify employees' job demands, resources and support needs in public administration. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with N = 13 employees who work hybrid in public administration organizations in Northern Germany between February and May 2023. Interviewees were asked about their perceived job demands, resources, and support needs in hybrid work. The data was analyzed in a deductive-inductive approach of qualitative content analysis, primarily supported by the job demands-resources model as a theoretical framework. Results: Several job demands, e.g., an increase in work and meetings, and resources such as personal freedom and responsibility, were identified in the context of hybrid work. A multitude of the reported job resources and demands relate to work organization and social relationships. The results disclose discrepancies between participants' experiences of job demands and resources, underlining the subjectivity of employees' perceptions of hybrid working conditions. Interviewees' support needs for hybrid work also varied, encompassing structural-level aspects such as increased acceptance and promotion of hybrid work in the organization as well as behavioral-level aspects, for instance, strategies and self-discipline for boundaries and structure. Conclusions: This study provides a first comprehensive overview of the job demands, resources and support needs in hybrid work in public administration. This study builds an important basis for further research to understand the impact of hybrid working conditions on health-related employee outcomes. The identified support needs provide a valuable point of reference for health-promoting hybrid working conditions which public administration employers should begin establishing as early as possible in the ongoing transition to hybrid work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postwar migrants from the Caribbean and Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) to the UK are now experiencing the onset of age‐related diseases such as dementia. Our evidence base, both quantitative and qualitative, documenting the experiences of family caregivers of people with dementia is largely drawn from studies undertaken with white European, North American, and Australasian populations. Consequently, there is a need for research in the field of dementia caregiving to reflect the increasing diversity in ethnic identities of the older adult population of the UK. Using semistructured interviews, we investigated the experiences of 18 caregivers of people with dementia in Black Caribbean, Black African, and South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) communities in England. Participants were recruited from the Join Dementia Research platform and were predominantly female intergenerational carers. We identified the following three themes: motivation to care (spending time with the care recipient and reciprocity), positive and negative consequences of caregiving (rewards and consequences), and the cultural context of caregiving (cultural norms and values supporting caregiving and negative attitudes towards dementia). Our findings develop existing literature by identifying (a) the importance of spending time with the person they care for, (b) the absence of faith as a caregiving driver, and (c) the challenge of watching the declining health of a parent. We highlight how the different motivations to care are intertwined and dynamic. This is illustrated by the linking of obligation and reciprocity in our dataset and positive and negative experiences of caregiving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing numbers of people living in old age, a system that sustains autonomy, dignity and freedom of movement for people living with dementia (PwD) needs to be installed. However, due to the cognitive constraints in the cohort of PwD, traditional qualitative methods of inquiry, such as interviews, are often not a good match. This study aimed to use creative qualitative assessment tools to assess the values and opinions of PwD in nursing homes on freedom and safety. Twenty-two nursing home residents with memory problems participated in this study. Important themes related to freedom and safety were identified using a diverse set of methodologies. Overall, residents had a similar view on 'safety', relating this to having a homely environment where people look out for you, with a good balance between busy and quiet areas and being able to retain cognitive and physical function. Values around freedom were more diverse. Residents who were still capable of logical speech generally voiced a wish for independence, making one's own decisions and wanting to go outside. For residents who no longer spoke, freedom seemed to be experienced more through the connection to other people. These results show that PwD still have distinct personal values concerning freedom and safety, which should be given due consideration in decision-making regarding nursing home policy, thereby potentially improving the quality of life of PwD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, also known as the ‘Síndone’ or ‘Holy Shroud’, faces significant doubt based on scientific evidence. Carbon‐14 testing conducted decades ago placed its origin in the Middle Ages, raising questions about its connection to Jesus Christ. This article highlights an anatomical anomaly: the hand placement covering the genitals appears inconsistent with human proportions, suggesting a possible artistic intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectivesMethodResultsConclusionTo examine in-depth experiences of loneliness and freedom after late-life divorce from an intergenerational familial/dyadic perspective in a family-oriented society that also values self-determination. Considering the expansion of late-life divorce, it is important to understand its consequences for the family wellbeing.According to phenomenology tradition, data was collected through 51 semi-structured qualitative interviews, comprised from 7 family units (n = 33) including all/most family members and 9 parent-child dyads (n = 18), using thematic-analysis and dyadic interview-analysis principles. Analyzing family units enables a more complex examination of the phenomena, providing a holistic view of family life.Loneliness and freedom experienced simultaneously was the most common. A gap was identified between generations regarding benefits and costs of late-life divorce. Whereas most divorcees emphasized the benefits of freedom, most of their adult-children mainly described the disadvantages of loneliness, perceiving both loneliness and freedom as negative.Late-life divorce is a complex experience comprised of both loneliness and freedom. Each generation experiences the benefits and costs of late-life divorce differently. Unique aspects of freedom and loneliness at old age in a socio-cultural context located between self-determination and family-oriented are discussed, including strategies of coping with loneliness. Implications for families and professionals are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freedom is one of the most important problems of human history. It has many different definitions. Freedom is often discussed together with some concepts or concept sets. These are concepts such as security, certainty, standards, ambivalence. In this study, freedom is discussed together with the concept of ambivalence. The attempt of modernity to establish order and to eradicate ambivalence has led to a tendency towards freedom. In this context, criticism of modernity has come up and Postmodernism has emerged as a fundamental criticism of modernity. Postmodernity considers ambivalence as an opportunity of freedom. One of the important figures of postmodern thought, Bauman discussed a on a healthier basis position between modernity and postmodernity and the relationship between freedom and ambivalence. Bauman's description of postmodernity as liquid modernity inspired the concept of liquid standards in the relationship between freedom and ambivalence in this text. It gave an opportunity to overcome the problems of modernity with the standards of oppressive character and the impossibility of postmodernity to impose a lack of standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

György Ligeti's stay in Cologne from 1957 until 1959 played a decisive role in his life. After more than three decades living under more or less strict political control, finally Ligeti could experience peace and personal freedom. Many talks with Karlheinz Stockhausen, who explained his particular musical ideas and serial composition techniques in detail, and the access to the Electronic Music Studio at the West German Broadcasting Station, where Gottfried Michael Koenig would introduce him to the specific ways of theoretical thinking and the practical methods in the field of electronic composition, opened for him the domain of the New Music. And Ligeti's own realizations Glissandi and Artikulation marked an important turning point in his musical practice in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the revolutionary era, Jews in the new Grand Duchy of Baden were given hope that full citizenship and integration would eventually be achieved. However, not every location or space in the Grand Duchy was inclusive, as Jews were excluded from most areas in civil society and the state. The Rhein-Neckar region (including the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg), however, proved to be a location where close contact between Jews and Christians was not only more regular, but an important facet of the developing liberal society—whether that was in the newspapers, the classroom, or bourgeois associations. These so-called 'fraternal spaces' shaped the individuals and were shaped by those individuals who came through them. In the case of the Rhein-Neckar region, this led to Jewish-Christian relationships that had an indelible impact on the blossoming liberal movement of the Vormärz as well as the lead-up to the 1848 revolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do teacher preparation programs re-culture themselves so that we can supply educational settings with teachers who work toward liberation from racism and other systems of oppression? Abolitionist education is one strategic framework that can be utilized to support this systemic re-culturing. I share my experiences in re-designing and facilitating a diversity course in an early childhood education (ECE) teacher preparation program toward abolitionist education through culturally and historically responsive learning, social justice teaching frameworks, Chicana/Latina feminist philosophy, and abolitionist pedagogy. The course explored four units: Identity, Justice and Anti-Bias, Intergenerational Genius, and Freedom Dreaming and Abolition. In-class and at-home projects included positionality statements, analyzing characteristics of white supremacy culture operating in ECE, studying abolitionist movement organizers, and transforming mandated curriculum based on social justice for young children. In this article, I share the context of the course redesign, my facilitation, and reflexive ideas for moving toward abolitionist education as a field of teacher preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]