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This study aimed to explore sociocultural determinants that might contribute to the increased prevalence and incidence of leptospirosis, and how those determinants can also hinder health promotion interventions, particularly in rural areas of Sri Lanka. Even though several epidemiological studies have been conducted on leptospirosis in the Asia-Pacific region, the sociocultural background of this disease has not received sufficient attention. Therefore, through a qualitative study involving nine public health officials and 25 infected patients in five selected health administrative divisions, we demonstrate that a set of certain sociocultural determinants influence leptospirosis incidence and its prevalence. The thematic analysis generated six themes: a lack of knowledge of the causes and consequences of leptospirosis, false illness interpretations, a lack of readiness for the disease, poor economic conditions, social capital failure, and issues within the health system at the community level. Overall, results suggest that awareness programs aimed at demystifying false interpretations of leptospirosis lie at the center of any health promotion interventions at the community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted with the aim of examining the most relevant constraints, challenges, and experiences of RAS fish farmers in the state of Haryana state of India. Over the course of a year, extensive surveys were conducted among 20 RAS farms in various districts of the Haryana Region, i.e., Ambala, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Rohtak, Rewari, and Sonipat. These farmers were interviewed face to face using a questionnaire that combined closed- and open-ended questions to gather valuable insight. The results revealed several common constraints faced by RAS farmers in Haryana. The most significant challenges that farmers faced included disease outbreaks (50%), seed quality issues (45%), lack of knowledge about RAS (35%), and misguidance (5%). Additionally, farmers reported difficulties in seed transportation (10%), and approximately 70% of the farmers emphasized the critical need for specialized training in RAS operations. Moreover, 50% of the farmers considered the lack of information regarding suitable fish species for RAS to be a major problem. In terms of RAS equipment, drum filters (35%) and MBBR media (30%) were the most common malfunctioning components for fish farmers, while 55% of the farmers experienced no default in their RAS systems. Moreover, this research revealed that Haryana farmers are interested in the adoption of RAS technology and are interested in a prototype farm with professional guidance to promote its adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lise Poisblaud,1,2 Edeltraut Kröger,1– 3 Nathalie Jauvin,4 Julie Pelletier-Jacob,1 Richard E Bélanger,2,5 Guillaume Foldes-Busque,5,6 Michèle Aubin,1,2,5 Pierre Pluye7 ,† Laurence Guillaumie,8 Malek Amiri,8 Pierre Dagenais,9 Clermont E Dionne1,2,5 1Centre d’excellence sur le vieillissement de Québec (CEVQ), Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux de la Capitale-Nationale (CIUSSSCN), Québec, Quebec, Canada; 2Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, Canada; 3Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, Canada; 4Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec, Quebec, Canada; 5School of Psychology, Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, Canada; 6Research Centre, Centre Intégré de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CISSS) de Chaudière-Appalaches, Lévis, Quebec, Canada; 7Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada; 8Faculty of Nursing, Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, Canada; 9Faculty of Medicine, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada†Dr. Pierre Pluye passed away on August 1st 2023Correspondence: Edeltraut Kröger, BPharm, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, 1050 Chemin Ste-Foy, Room L2-30, Québec, Quebec, Canada, G1S 4L8, Tel +1 418 682-7511 extension 84834, Fax +1 418 682-7998, Email Edeltraut.Kroger.ciussscn@ssss.gouv.qc.caObjective: Explore perceptions and preoccupations regarding use of medical cannabis against chronic musculoskeletal pain, among patients and physicians.Design: Qualitative study using interviews with patients and physicians, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB).Setting: The study was conducted in Quebec, Canada, in spring 2020.Subjects: We included 27 adult patients and 11 physicians (GPs, anesthesiologists, psychiatrists, and a rheumatologist); the mean age of patients was 48.2 years; 59.3% of patients and 36.4% of physicians were women; 59.3% of patients used no medical cannabis at the time of study; 45.5% of physicians had never authorized it.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and for the qualitative analysis codes were developed in a hybrid, inductive and deductive approach. Guided by the TPB, facilitators and barriers, perceived benefits and harms, and perceived norms that may influence cannabis use or authorization were documented.Results: Although medical cannabis is an interesting avenue for the relief of chronic musculoskeletal pain, doctors and patients agreed that it remained a last line option, due to the lack of scientific evidence regarding its safety and efficacy. The norms surrounding medical cannabis also play an important role in the social and professional acceptance of this therapeutic option.Conclusion: Medical cannabis is seen as a last line option among interventions in the management of chronic pain, and attitudes and prior experiences play a role in the decision to use it. Study results may contribute to improved shared decision making between patients and physicians regarding this option.Plain Language Summary: Little is known about the motivations, perceptions, and preoccupations of patients with chronic pain and their physicians regarding the use of medical cannabis against chronic pain. A qualitative study was done on the attitudes and perceptions of these patients and their physicians. We performed semi-structured interviews, guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, with chronic pain patients and with physicians treating such patients. Results indicate that both patients and physicians consider medical cannabis as a last line therapeutic option against chronic pain. Also, both groups expressed a need for stronger evidence on the effectiveness and safety of medical cannabis, as well as for more and clearer guidance on when and how to use this additional option in the treatment of chronic pain.Keywords: medical cannabis, theory of planned behavior, chronic musculoskeletal pain, qualitative study, lack of knowledge, stigma

Writing assignments have been considered challenging for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Several studies have investigated writing difficulties, primarily focusing on lexical and grammatical problems. However, few studies have explored challenges at various stages of writing. This research examines teachers' views on the challenges ESL tertiary students face when writing descriptive essays in the three primary stages: pre-writing, during writing, and post-writing. It also explores the factors contributing to these challenges and provides suggestions for overcoming them. Explanatory research was conducted by collecting quantitative and qualitative data from a web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interviews and analyzing those datasets separately. Fifteen English teachers participated in the online survey, and five teachers underwent individual interviews. This research reveals the problems ESL tertiary students encounter at the different stages of writing essays. In the pre-writing stage, students struggled most with outlining. During writing, they worked most on avoiding plagiarism, writing well-structured sentences, and linking between sentences. In the post-writing stage, they worked most with editing and revising. The teachers identified a lack of knowledge and creativity, over-dependence on teacher feedback, and unawareness of the writing process as the main factors behind these difficulties. The teachers suggested numerous solutions to overcome the challenges, including continuous writing training, teacher guidance, and increasing students' awareness about writing stages by applying different digital techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus strain. Anxiety, anticipation, and lack of knowledge in the previous experience on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (H1N1) pandemic have a substantial impact on significant public health behaviours including wearing face mask in public spaces. We investigate the prevalence of face mask usage and its associated factors during COVID-19 amongst students and staff of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Using a cross-sectional study, 220 respondents participated in an electronic version of a self-administered questionnaire. Analyses were performed using the Chi-square test, IBM SPSS Statistics 25, with statistical significance at p

Steel structures are the most ductile systems; however they are prone to instability phenomena due to their inherent slenderness. Looking at the real events of over 50 years, it was observed that steel structures, when they are subjected to seismic actions, respond, relatively, in an acceptable way, avoiding a global collapse. In case of quasi-static loads, such as snow, overloading, due to earth infill in case of green roofs, or indirect actions, coming from geometrical imperfections or lack of bracing, fail under a sudden way. A failure should be approached by any type of combination of cumulated errors in design, construction, operation and maintenance. The paper is focused on failures, in quasi-static loads, of the first stage in the design and construction phase of a project. It attempts through a technical classification and presentation of case studies to unveil relevant causes of collapses. From the engineering point of view, the lack of redundancy, robustness and ductility are the main factors of structural collapse. Indeed, the human nature represents the central core for any structural failure, and this is attributed to a coupling of the lack of knowledge, as well as management and organizational inefficiencies.

The phenomenon of deconstruction emerged in the late sixties of the twentieth century from the point of view of structuralism. Associated with breach of the metaphysics of presence, deconstructing criticism was raised by Jacques Derrida, within which the verbal/parole aspects of the texts are violated. The purpose of this comprehensive outlook is to delve into the hidden meanings of the text and its metaphysical dimensions. Dimashq al-Ḥarāʼiq was written byZakaria Tamer, a well-known short story writer in the Arab world. This article deals with the collection of two short stories, "Mot al-Sha'r al-Asvad" and "vajh al-ghamar" by analyzing the text using the deconstruction approach. The research method is descriptive-analytic. After the text analysis, it emerges that the main contradictions in the stories are hope / despair, dignity / inferiority and captivity / freedom. By analyzing these contradictions and deconstructing them, it is concluded that the existence of contradictory inversion in the stories is due to the disapproval of the higher classes by the oppressed lower class, which is attributed to the lack of knowledge or the lack of power for confrontation.

Through this work, teachers’ beliefs and knowledge regarding emotional education have been analyzed. In order to do so, a questionnaire designed by a team at Yale University about teachers’ emotional education beliefs has been used. Ninety-seven teachers have participated in the research, 80% of whom are women and 53% of whom work in public centres. According to what it seen in the results, the average rating of the participants was 4.1 out of 5, showing by the participating teachers, high beliefs regarding this topic, agreeing with previous research. Nevertheless, only a %6.18 is able to give an in-depth definition of this concept. This paper shows the ease with which participating teachers have beliefs about concepts that they are unable to define.

Steel structures are the most ductile systems; however they are prone to instability phenomena due to their inherent slenderness. Looking at the real events of over 50 years, it was observed that steel structures, when they are subjected to seismic actions, respond, relatively, in an acceptable way, avoiding a global collapse. In case of quasi-static loads, such as snow, overloading, due to earth infill in case of green roofs, or indirect actions, coming from geometrical imperfections or lack of bracing, fail under a sudden way. A failure should be approached by any type of combination of cumulated errors in design, construction, operation and maintenance. The paper is focused on failures, in quasistatic loads, of the first stage in the design and construction phase of a project. It attempts through a technical classification and presentation of case studies to unveil relevant causes of collapses. From the engineering point of view, the lack of redundancy, robustness and ductility are the main factors of structural collapse. Indeed, the human nature represents the central core for any structural failure, and this is attributed to a coupling of the lack of knowledge, as well as management and organizational inefficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to identify understanding of atmospheric pollution phenomena such as acid rain, global warming, ozone layer depletion and photochemical smog among grade 9 lower secondary school students (aged 14 to15), in all Slovenian regions. The research involves the development of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test entitled the Atmospheric Pollution Phenomena Diagnostic Test (APPDiT). APPDiT is a 15-item diagnostic test comprising items for assessing students’ understanding and self-confidence of atmospheric pollution problems. The results reveal that the majority of the participants demonstrated a lack of knowledge or misconception about atmosphere pollution since the overall success rate on the APPDiT was 39.6%. In particular, only 36.7%, 5.1%, 42.7% or 19.1% of the students have adequate knowledge regarding understanding of the formation, consequences, and strategies to reduce acid rain, global warming, ozone layer depletion and photochemical smog, respectively. This shows a substantial students’ knowledge deficits related to atmosphere pollution at the end of the compulsory education in Slovenia.

In France, maltreatment of children, that mean “physical, sexual or emotional maltreatment, or neglect of a child” is a very underestimated phenomenon, yet it is running rampant. The various causes of child abuse are subject to denial, and the ensuing delay of identification of victims is profoundly damaging. As a medical doctor and survivor of child abuse, I have a clear vision of the shortcomings of our child protection system. Non-recognition or late recognition of cases of child abuse is directly related to a lack of knowledge and training on this subject, which leads to weaknesses both in terms of detection and reporting of potential cases. Once the children are identified, they need to receive proper care that should not be limited to the social aspects. Indeed, the victims of abuse suffer from important repercussions on their physical and mental health. Without proper care, their health as adults will be severely impacted. These children require specific care and an adapted health care pack, as well as inclusion in the child protection framework. The task force “Child health in child protection” that I manage has suggested the creation of a standardized healthcare protocol for child victims of abuse, with psychological and medical costs fully covered by the Government, especially regarding clinical psychologists and psycho-motor therapists.

IntroductionThe assisted reproductive technology (ART) field deals with consistent and predictable gaps in knowledge. Expressing lack of knowledge with a sentence like “I don’t know” can be challenging for doctors. This study examined physicians’ negative epistemic disclaimer “non lo so” in Italian ART doctor-couple interactions. In particular, it aimed to reveal specific features of “non lo so”: function, topic, temporality, responsibility, and interactional aspects.MethodsThis was a video-based observational study. We used microanalysis of face-to-face dialogue to analyze 20 purposively selected triadic consultations from a corpus of 85. This inductive analysis focused on the function, the content (topic and temporality) and some selected interactional aspects of the “non lo so”, quantifying and capturing the interaction between these qualitative features.ResultsWe found 82 doctors’ “non lo so” in the corpus (mean = 4.4; range = 0–15). We discovered three main functions of this expression: propositional (n = 73/82), relational (n = 6/82), discursive (n = 3/82). The most frequent topics raising doctors’ “non lo so” were costs (n = 11/82), treatment-related aspects (n = 10/82), and timing issues (n = 9/82). In more than half of the cases (n = 44/82), present issues emerged. The majority (n = 70/82) of “non lo so” was framed using the “I,” with doctors’ taking personal responsibility. Patients played a role in these expressions from doctors: Patients initiated more than one third of them, and in one fourth of the cases, patients followed up immediately.ConclusionOur findings may be related to characteristics of the specific field of ART. Doctors in this setting must frequently express a direct lack of knowledge to their patients, and when they do, they mean it literally. Patients contribute to such disclosures, and their responses suggest that they find them acceptable, showing that they may expect limitations in their potential to conceive.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of severe visual impairment (SVI) and reasons for not accessing eye care services in a field practice area of a tertiary care hospital. Study design: Cross-sectional observational study. Materials and methods: Through a cross-sectional study using simple random sampling, a total of 1510, individuals above 18 years of age, from six rural and maternity welfare centers (RMCW) within a distance of 20 km from a tertiary hospital were approached. All participants underwent basic assessment of visual acuity, anterior segment evaluation using torch light, and answered a structured questionnaire on eye care. Results: Of 1510 subjects, 267 had SVI (defined as visual acuity < 6/60 either in one or both eyes) with a prevalence of 17.7%. SVI was higher among men and those above 60 years of age (52.8%). Significant association was found between barriers to accessing eye care facilities and lack of knowledge to access health care (p = 0.004), lack of financial support (95% CI, p = 0.006), and social reasons (95% CI, p = 0.028). Prevalence of SVI among diabetics was 32.7% as compared to non-diabetics (OR: 2.630; 95% confidence interval: 1.864-3.712), and among hypertensives was 34.61% as compared to non-hypertensives (OR: 2.836; 95% confidence interval: 1.977-4.068). Conclusion: In spite of being close to a tertiary care center, a prevalence of SVI in 17.7% of this population indicates a lack of knowledge regarding the importance of self-health care in subjects. This emphasizes the need to increase the awareness among the general public to access the ophthalmic health care facilities in order to improve the ocular health of the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed at investigating the Semiotic Self in the story of " Hayy Bin Yakzan" as a literary text based on a set of relations among a series of meaningful signs; in order to identify the signs of self in the life of Hayy Bin Yakzanby, through exploring the deep meaning of the text components. The research was based on semiotic criticism, which considers the text as a structure of relations between the signifier and the signified, within multiple contexts. Accordingly, the study was based on the reading of the textual thresholds, the journey of self-reliance in getting knowledge, and the selfsemiotics in the process of separation and unity. The most important results confirmed that the attributes of self and its awareness of the existence in the life of Hayy Bin Yakzan was only a means of its awareness of God, and linked the existence of the human self with its quest for annihilation in the divine self. Hayy Bin Yakzan was a symbol of the unified Sufi philosopher, and his biography shows intellectual development of a philosopher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through this work, teachers' beliefs and knowledge regarding emotional education have been analyzed. In order to do so, a questionnaire designed by a team at Yale University about teachers' emotional education beliefs has been used. Ninety-seven teachers have participated in the research, 80% of whom are women and 53% of whom work in public centres. According to what it seen in the results, the average rating of the participants was 4.1 out of 5, showing by the participating teachers, high beliefs regarding this topic, agreeing with previous research. Nevertheless, only a %6.18 is able to give an in-depth definition of this concept. This paper shows the ease with which participating teachers have beliefs about concepts that they are unable to define. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed at investigating the Semiotic Self in the story of " Hayy Bin Yakzan" as a literary text based on a set of relations among a series of meaningful signs; in order to identify the signs of self in the life of Hayy Bin Yakzanby, through exploring the deep meaning of the text components. The research was based on semiotic criticism, which considers the text as a structure of relations between the signifier and the signified, within multiple contexts. Accordingly, the study was based on the reading of the textual thresholds, the journey of self-reliance in getting knowledge, and the selfsemiotics selfsemiotics in the process of separation and unity. The most important results confirmed that the attributes of self and its awareness of the existence in the life of Hayy Bin Yakzan was only a means of its awareness of God, and linked the existence of the human self with its quest for annihilation in the divine self. Hayy Bin Yakzan was a symbol of the unified Sufi philosopher, and his biography shows intellectual development of a philosopher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Food handlers are unaware of the language used in their professional practice. • The storytelling strategy allowed access to the social context of food handlers. • Collective discourses revealed misinformation regarding food thawing. • Insufficient knowledge impedes adherence to safe food-handling practices. • Social representations can determine the behavior of food handlers. Comprehension is the ability to understand and be familiar with situations and facts. A critical factor causing foodborne diseases is the inadequate temperature during food storage and handling; food handlers often fail to understand this. Therefore, in this study, we investigated how technical language and everyday knowledge operate in the comprehension of safe food temperatures among food handlers in food services. To achieve this, data collection was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, a survey was conducted to 206 food handlers from 14 food service working in the city of São Paulo. Through this survey, we gathered information to characterize the socio-demographic profile of the sample, details about participation in training, and knowledge of technical terms related to safe food temperatures. In the second stage, individuais interviews were conducted on the same day following the questionnaire administration in each food service. A total of 29 interviews were carried out An interview script was developed containing two storylines based on the Fourth Key: "Keep food at safe temperatures," which is part of the WHO's "Five Keys to Safer Food" manual. Further, the collective subject discourse technique, which is based on the theory of social representations, was employed to analyze each interview and construct a representative collective discourse. Analysis of the results indicated that lack of knowledge about safe food temperatures is mainly a result of the misunderstanding of technical terms. The collective discourses obtained results reinforced that food handlers had diverse and erroneous information about food defrosting, and they exhibited low confidence and clarity about safe food temperatures. Overall, psychological, social, and cultural factors affect the formation of social representations that guide food handlers' decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to identify understanding of atmospheric pollution phenomena such as acid rain, global warming, ozone layer depletion and photochemical smog among grade 9 lower secondary school students (aged 14 to15), in all Slovenian regions. The research involves the development of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test entitled the Atmospheric Pollution Phenomena Diagnostic Test (APPDiT). APPDiT is a 15-item diagnostic test comprising items for assessing students' understanding and self-confidence of atmospheric pollution problems. The results reveal that the majority of the participants demonstrated a lack of knowledge or misconception about atmosphere pollution since the overall success rate on the APPDiT was 39.6%. In particular, only 36.7%, 5.1%, 42.7% or 19.1% of the students have adequate knowledge regarding understanding of the formation, consequences, and strategies to reduce acid rain, global warming, ozone layer depletion and photochemical smog, respectively. This shows a substantial students' knowledge deficits related to atmosphere pollution at the end of the compulsory education in Slovenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of knowledge or epistemic uncertainty in technical systems can be treated with so-called Solution Spaces. They are sets of good designs that reach by definition all design goals. Considering sets rather than one single design allows for unintended variations of component properties that are typical in the early stages of systems design. Box-shaped Solution Spaces can be expressed as the Cartesian product of permissible intervals for design variables. These intervals serve as independent target regions and can be interpreted as component requirements. Existing algorithms optimize the size of box-shaped Solution Spaces. Unfortunately, the size of the permissible intervals for crucial design variables is often not large enough to encompass all uncertainty and to ensure feasibility. A new approach is introduced where the design variables are divided into a set of early- and a set of late-decision variables. Early-decision variables are associated with permissible intervals on which they may assume any value to encompass uncertainty due to limited controllability. Late-decision variables are controllable and therefore associated with intervals where they can be adjusted to any specific value. The Cartesian product of these intervals is called a Solution-Compensation Space. It has the property that for all values of early-decision variables from their permissible intervals there exists at least one set of late-decision variable values from their intervals such that the resulting design reaches all design goals. The approach is applied to a design problem from vehicle driving dynamics. It is shown that the permissible intervals for the early-design variables can be increased significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-profit organizations that develop their main activity for the social benefit has risen from a few years ago, but the central issue arises due to the wrong approach that gives this figure not only in the tax obligations they have but also in its operation, where it is important to exert control of information, and management that implement these entities, the distribution of its resources and the management of your primary object; taxpayers who belong to this regime should disclose in a public way the mechanisms which are used in the development of its activity; which will provide confidence and transparency to users The information and in turn contribute to the non-circumvention and evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the high incidence and high mortality rates of prostate cancer in Haiti by exploring the constructs of the Health Belief Model as a predictor to Haitian men's intention to screen for prostate cancer. Perceived benefits emerged as a predictor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]