Academic performance is among the several components of academic success. Many factors, including socioeconomic status, student temperament and motivation, peer and parental support influence academic performance. Our study aims to investigate the determinants of academic performance with emphasis on the role of parental styles in adolescent students in Peshawar Pakistan. A total of 456 students from 4 public and 4 private schools were interviewed. Academic performance was assessed based on self-reported grades in the latest internal examinations. Parenting styles were assessed (...) through the administration of the Parental bonding instrument. Regression analysis was conducted to assess the influence of socio-demographic factors and parenting styles on academic performance. Factors associated with and differences between “care” and “overprotection” scores of fathers and mothers were analyzed. Higher socio-economic status, father’s education level and higher care scores were independently associated with better academic performance in adolescent students. Affectionless control was the most common parenting style for fathers and mothers. When adapted by the father, it was also the only parenting style independently improving academic performance. Overall, mean “care” scores were higher for mothers and mean “overprotection” scores were higher for fathers. Parenting workshops and school activities emphasizing the involvement of mothers and fathers in the parenting of adolescent students might have a positive influence on their academic performance. Affectionless control may be associated with improved academics but the emotional and psychosocial effects of this style of parenting need to be investigated before recommendations are made. (shrink)

To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding organ donation in a selected adult population in Pakistan.

Background and ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to draw the attention toward the implications of COVID-19 and the related restrictions imposed worldwide especially in Pakistan. The primary objective was to highlight the levels of psychological distress, anxiety, family violence, suicidality, and well-being due to COVID-19 and the secondary objective was to associate it to social demographic factors.Materials and MethodsIt is designed as a cross-sectional study by employing an online questionnaire in the English language and obtaining responses using a snowball (...) sampling technique. We used three validated measures including Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder index and World Health Organization Well-Being Index.ResultsA sample of 420 participants was recruited from across Pakistan, with most participants were females, students and belonging to Punjab. Nearly one-fourth of the participants scored above the minimum value set for moderate or high psychological distress. There was a higher prevalence of distress among females and resident of province Punjab. The majority of individuals reported that they were living with their family and more than half were neutral regarding their satisfaction with their living conditions. 40.5% believed that the lockdown has had a negative impact on their mental health. 31.4% have reported that they themselves have experienced abuse from a family member. 48.6% scored high on the GAD-7 scale and low wellbeing score was found among 80.2%. Students were found to be more vulnerable to mental illness and anxiety.ConclusionWith the lockdown restrictions, psychosocial distress has become prevalent in Pakistan. (shrink)

Volume 34, Issue 2-3, June - September 2024.

This study examines the stability of trust and explores whether it differs across men and women using a panel dataset. Data were first collected in 2008 and later in 2019, from 1056 male and 1113 female respondents in the Netherlands. The analysis results suggest that trust is significantly correlated over time, irrespective of gender. Similarly, the subgroup analysis restricted to respondents with low levels of trust in 2008 showed a significant correlation between trust measured in 2008 and that measured in (...) 2019. Further, this study analyzes whether the correlation decays with time by comparing the correlation between trust in 2008 and 2019 with the correlation between trust in 2008 and 2013. The analysis reveals a significant decay in the correlation with time, and this decay is driven by men. A closer look shows that older men (with age ≥ median value) primarily caused this decay in correlation. These findings provide evidence of the interaction between gender and the stability of trust. (shrink)

This volume will attempt to explore the theological implications of the political and philosophical thought of Althusser. The return to Althusser's theological writings is indeed a timely intervention because of 1) the continued impact of the (post)secular orientation and vulgar atheism, and 2) the relation of Marxism to theology.

With the spread of Information and Communication Technologies tools and the Internet, Twenty first century technologies have significantly affected human life, and it has been desired to be obtained continuously. It has become challenging to protect information due to the increase in the methods by which malicious people can get information. As a result, it is crucial to determine people’s awareness levels by revealing the risks and threats to information security. In this context, a study was conducted to show the (...) awareness levels of teachers who come after the family in raising conscious individuals in society. For this purpose, a quantitative research method was adopted for the problem and sub-problems that form the basis of the research. The survey model, one of the research designs used within the framework of the quantitative research method, was used. Information Security Awareness Scale was applied to 394 teachers, and according to the results obtained, it was determined that the information security awareness level of the teachers was moderate. According to the attacks and threats sub-dimension, which includes technical issues, it has been determined that the awareness levels of the teachers are at a medium level. The study results show that female teachers’ information security awareness levels are lower than male teachers. In comparison, the awareness levels of those who received information security awareness training and information technology teachers are higher. (shrink)

Mostly consists of works composed in Tibetan, with translations into Mongolian, on the Soyombo script.

BackgroundSocial cognition and competence are a key part of daily interactions and essential for satisfying relationships and well-being. Pediatric neurological and psychological conditions can affect social cognition and require assessment and remediation of social skills. To adequately approximate the complex and dynamic nature of real-world social interactions, innovative tools are needed. The aim of this study was to document the performance of adolescents on two versions of a serious video game presenting realistic, everyday, socio-moral conflicts, and to explore whether their (...) performance is associated with empathy or sense of presence, factors known to influence social cognition.MethodsParticipants first completed a pre-test measure of socio-moral reasoning based on three dilemmas from a previously validated computer task. Then, they either played an evaluative version or an adaptive version of a video game presenting nine social situations in which they made socio-moral decisions and provided justifications. In the evaluative version, participants’ audio justifications were recorded verbatim and coded manually to obtain a socio-moral reasoning maturity score. In the adaptive version, tailored feedback and social reinforcements were provided based on participant responses. An automatic coding algorithm developed using artificial intelligence was used to determine socio-moral maturity level in real-time and to provide a basis for the feedback and reinforcements in the game. All participants then completed a three-dilemma post-test assessment.ResultsThose who played the adaptive version showed improved SMR across the pre-test, in-game and post-test moral maturity scores, F = 9.81, pHF < 0.001, ϵ2 = 0.21, but those who played the Evaluative version did not. Socio-moral reasoning scores from both versions combined did not correlate with empathy or sense of presence during the game, though results neared significance. The study findings support preliminary validation of the game as a promising method for assessing and remediating social skills during adolescence. (shrink)

Prince of philosophers -- The emergence of Islam -- Boy genius -- Court physician -- A traveling philosopher -- Death of an intellectual -- A lasting legacy.

Time and Fantasy in Narratives of Jihad: The Case of the Islami Jamiat-I-Tuleba in Karachi This article proposes an analytical framework for thinking about violence in the Islami Jamiat-i-Tuleba (IJT), the student organization of Jamaat e Islami (JI), Pakistan's longstanding Islamist party. It prioritises the intersection of the psychic and the social, and the role of politics, history and biography in mediating the modalities, narration and praxis of violence in the city of Karachi. The dominant explanations tend to emphasise political (...) instrumentalism, and structural and ideological factors, and to "Islamicise" the violence, collapsing Islamic rhetoric into an extemporization of conditions, ignoring the deep affective appeal of violence to individuals, and leaving unelaborated the role of intersecting national, local and individual contexts and temporalities in structuring political subjectivity and violent action. (shrink)

This manuscript draws on the moral norms arising from the nuanced accounts of epistemic (in)justice and social identity in relational autonomy to normatively assess and articulate the ethical problems associated with using AI in patient care in light of the Black Box problem. The article also describes how black-boxed AI may be used within the healthcare system. The manuscript highlights what needs to happen to align AI with the moral norms it draws on. Deeper thinking – from other backgrounds other (...) than decolonial scholarship and relational autonomy – about the impact of AI on the human experience needs to be done to appreciate any other barriers that may exist. Future studies can take up this task. (shrink)

Objective : Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been utilized by assisted reproductive technology (ART) to genetically screen embryos before placement in the uterus. However, many objections have been raised against the genetic screening of embryos, giving the practice an uncertain ethical, legal, and social status. Our aim was, therefore, to survey the possible presence and compliance to any legislation for PGD in the existing 60 in vitro fertilization (IVF) centres in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries as well as the (...) availability of such a technological service. Methods : The study was performed in the department of biochemistry at King Faisal University between the periods Mar 2006 to Nov 2007. A questionnaire, in the form of a table, was sent to responsible persons of all 60 IVF centres and health authorities in the GCC countries. The collected data about the regulations and guidelines for the PGD program was analyzed using SPSS software package version 12.0 and the level of significance was set at P Results: 18 respondents, 16 IVF centres and 2 health authorities (26.87% of total) participated in the survey. The PGD techniques, mainly FISH analyses, were practiced in three centres in Saudi Arabia and one centre in the UAE. The major provider of PGD was King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh where more than 300 PGD tests had been performed. Whilst some regulations and guidelines have been introduced to IVF centres in all GCC countries, their implementations were left to the discretion of the treating centre. Conclusions : PGD services in the GCC countries were under-utilized due to the high cost of tests, the sophisticated technology involved and the poor returns of the investment. As a result of some deficiencies in the legislations which regulated PGD, the medical teams involved often faced difficulties on what rights to exercise in various PGD cases. (shrink)

As ıl adı Ebû Muhammed Abdullah b. Muhammed b. Yusuf b. Abdulmennan El-Hilmi el-Amasi’dir. Daha çok Yusuf Efendizade lakabıyla tanınmı ş tır. 18.yüzyılda ya ş amı ş bir osmanlı alimidir. Osmanlı devletinde kıraat ilminin geli ş mesinde büyük payı vardır. Kıraat sahasında çok sayıda önemli eserler telif etmi ş tir. Dönemin karakeristik özelliklerini yansıtması bakımından en önemli çalı ş malarından birisi de “er-Rediyyetü li’d-Dâd el-Mu’ceme” adlı risalesidir. Bu çalı ş masında saçaklızade diye bilinen el-Mera’ ş i’ye dâd harfinin okunu ş (...) u hakkında cevap vermi ş tir. Saçaklızade’nin “keyfüyetü edai li’d-dâd” adlı risalesi osmanlı alimleri arasında büyük bir polemi ğ e yol açmı ş tır. Bu meyanda kendisine dönemin büyük kıraat âlimlerinden reddiyeler gelmi ş tir. Ş eyhü’l-Kurra müessesinin temsilcil ğ ini yapan Yusuf Efendizade dâd harfini kıraat, tecvid, fıkıh, tefsir ve dil ilimlerine göre de ğ erlendirerek ilmi bir risale yazmı ş tır. Makale, Reis’ul-Kurra Yusuf Efendizade’nin bu risalesini kıraat ilmine bir katkıda bulunmak üzere tahkikli metniyle birlikte sunmayı hedefler. (shrink)

Zygon®, Volume 57, Issue 2, Page 490-513, June 2022.

Experiences like pains, pleasures, and emotions have affective phenomenal character: they feel pleasant or unpleasant. Imperativism proposes to explain affective phenomenal character by appeal to imperative content, a kind of intentional content that directs rather than describes. We argue that imperativism is on the right track, but has been developed in the wrong way. There are two varieties of imperativism on the market: first-order and higher-order. We show that neither is successful, and offer in their place a new theory: reflexive (...) imperativism. Our proposal is that an experience P feels pleasant in virtue of being constituted by a Command with reflexive imperative content, while an experience U feels unpleasant in virtue of being constituted by a Command with reflexive imperative content : More of P!Less of U! If you need a slogan: experiences have affective phenomenal character in virtue of commanding us Get more of me! Get less of me! (shrink)

Until recently, scientific consensus held firm that genetically manipulated embryos created through methods including Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy or human germline genome editing should not be used to initiate a pregnancy. In countries that have relevant laws pertaining to heritable human germline modifications, the vast majority prohibit or restrict this practice. In the last several years, scholars have observed a transformation of scientific and policy restrictions with insistent calls for creating a regulatory pathway. Multiple stakeholders highlight the role of social consensus (...) and public engagement for governance of heritable human germline modifications. However, in the drive to gain public acceptance and lift restrictions, some proponents provide distorted or misleading narratives designed to influence public perception and incrementally shift the consensus. This article describes eight discrete strategies that proponents employ to influence framing, sway public opinion, and revise policymaking of human germline modifications in a manner that undermines honest engagement. (shrink)

The New Towns Movement began in England and later spread world-wide in response to the increasing concern felt at the deterioration of the quality of life in the large cities under the impact of industrialization. The New Towns, it was felt, would combine the advantages of life in the country with that of life in the city. They would be small communities of between 30.000 and 60.000 inhabitants. Their principal characteristics were to be a balanced economy and a well-defined pattern (...) of industrial, commercial and residential zones. (shrink)

Affective experiences such as pains, pleasures, and emotions have affective phenomenology: they feel pleasant. This type of phenomenology has a loopy regulatory profile: it often motivates us to act a certain way, and these actions typically end up regulating our affective experiences back. For example, the pleasure you get by tasting your morning coffee motivates you to drink more of it, and this in turn results in you obtaining another pleasant gustatory experience. In this article, we argue that reflexive imperativism (...) is the only intentionalist account of affective phenomenology—probably, the only account at all—that is able to make sense of its loopy regulatory profile. (shrink)

On November 2019, the world commemorated the 30th anniversary of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UNCRC noted that “the press and other media have essential fu...

Within the Ideological Surround Model of the social sciences and religion, so-called “universal” perspectives within the psychology of religion can dialogically clarify and be clarified by the “particular” elements of Muslim commitment. This study developed new scales for operationalizing the experience and behavior of Pakistani Muslims during Ramadan. In a sample of university students, one set of experiential factors apparently facilitated, whereas another interfered with the practices of Ramadan. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Personal Religious Orientations correlated with greater and the Extrinsic (...) Social motivation with lower levels of involvement in Ramadan. Relative to these religious orientation measures, Ramadan experience scales displayed incremental validity by explaining additional variance in Ramadan behavior. Women proved to be more religious than men. At the most general level, these data further supported the dialogic assumptions of the Ideological Surround Model of research in the psychology of religion. (shrink)

This article explores ideas of a student-centred curriculum through an oral history project undertaken with minoritised students on an undergraduate health ethics module at a UK HEI. It analyses oral history interviews about student expereinces, reflects on the co-creation of knowledge via collective praxis, and re-thinks what it is to 'centre' students in a socially just classroom, institution, and wider HE sector. Furthermore, it discusses conceptualisations of trustful and dialogic classroom conditions and considers issues of intersectionality, decolonising, resisting the 'mythical (...) norm' and addressing epistemic injustice in HE. (shrink)

Bayesian learning theory and evolutionary theory both formalize adaptive competition dynamics in possibly high‐dimensional, varying, and noisy environments. What do they have in common and how do they differ? In this paper, we discuss structural and dynamical analogies and their limits, both at a computational and an algorithmic‐mechanical level. We point out mathematical equivalences between their basic dynamical equations, generalizing the isomorphism between Bayesian update and replicator dynamics. We discuss how these mechanisms provide analogous answers to the challenge of adapting (...) to stochastically changing environments at multiple timescales. We elucidate an algorithmic equivalence between a sampling approximation, particle filters, and the Wright‐Fisher model of population genetics. These equivalences suggest that the frequency distribution of types in replicator populations optimally encodes regularities of a stochastic environment to predict future environments, without invoking the known mechanisms of multilevel selection and evolvability. A unified view of the theories of learning and evolution comes in sight. (shrink)

_A portion of the revenue from this book’s sales will be donated to Doctors Without Borders to assist the humanitarian work of nurses, doctors, and other health care providers in the fight against COVID-19 and beyond._ _Concepts and Cases in Nursing Ethics_ is an introduction to contemporary ethical issues in health care, designed especially for Canadian audiences. The book is organized around six key concepts: beneficence, autonomy, truth-telling, confidentiality, justice, and integrity. Each of these concepts is explained and discussed with (...) reference to professional and legal norms. The discussion is then supplemented by case studies that exemplify the relevant concepts and show how each applies in health care and nursing practice. This new fourth edition includes an added chapter on end-of-life issues, and it is revised throughout to reflect the latest developments on topics such as global health ethics, cultural competence, social media, and palliative sedation, as well as ethical issues relating to COVID-19. (shrink)

Drawing insight from affective events theory, this study presents a new dimension of perceived organizational politics and job attitudes. The motivation for this study was based on the fact that perceived organizational politics affect job attitudes and that personal resources moderate the direct relationship between perceived organizational politics and job attitudes in the context of the higher-education sector. In this regard, the data was collected through purposive sampling from 310 faculty members from higher-education institutions in Pakistan. To test the relationships (...) among the variables, we employed structural equation modeling via the AMOS software version 24.0. The results indicated that perceived organizational politics were significantly negatively related to job satisfaction. Moreover, perceived organizational politics were non-significantly related to job involvement. Political skill and work ethic weakened the relationship between perceived organizational politics and job satisfaction. We anticipated that these personal resources could mitigate the negative effect of perceived organizational politics and job attitudes. This study also suggests organizations to train their employees to develop essential personal skills. (shrink)

Generally toxic employees are under performers, yet some get better salaries and excel at workplace, getting positioned at higher ranks. This research assesses the relationship between the dark triad (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy) and perceived victimization with a focus on the mediating effect of abusive supervision and the moderating effect of mindfulness. The data were gathered in three waves. Both the structural equation model with partial least square and Process were used to analyze the data. The study findings suggest that (...) abusive supervision plays a mediating role in the association between the dark triad and perceived victimization. However, the results did not support the mediating role of abusive supervision in the association between narcissism and perceived victimization. Moreover, the findings suggest that mindfulness weakens the effect of abusive supervision on perceived victimization. Furthermore, our findings support the mediated-moderation model. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are also discussed. (shrink)

Non-naturalist realists are committed to the belief, famously voiced by Parfit, that if there are no non-natural facts then nothing matters. But it is morally objectionable to conditionalise all our moral commitments on the question of whether there are non-natural facts. Non-natural facts are causally inefficacious, and so make no difference to the world of our experience. And to be a realist about such facts is to hold that they are mind-independent. It is compatible with our experiences that there are (...) no non-natural facts, or that they are very different from what we think. As Nagel says, realism makes scepticism intelligible. So the non-naturalist must hold that you might be wrong that your partner matters, even if you are correct about every natural, causal fact about your history and relationship. But to hold that conditional attitude to your partner would be a moral betrayal. So believing non-naturalist realism involves doing something immoral. (shrink)

This paper explores the epistemological affordances of Islamic ethics as alternative knowledge within intercultural education. Despite the calls for epistemological plurality in intercultural education that centre epistemologies of the South, educators may find it hard to reaffirm their situated knowledges and practices because they may have been overwhelmed by the wide endorsements of the mainstream literature. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 25 EFL teachers, this study aims to (a) unpack educators’ perspectives around the adoption of alternative knowledges anchored in local (...) epistemologies and sensibilities, (b) foreground educators’ epistemic positioning around alternative knowledges and how they are perceived as sites for cognitive and pedagogical renewal to account for local particularities and conditions and (c) examine inter-epistemic tensions within educators’ reasoning in terms of how they navigate (in)congruencies between the mainstream and Islamic philosophy at the conceptual, pedagogical and practical levels. Findings reveal that educators acknowledge the legitimacy of Islamic ethics and their epistemological/pedagogical significance in intercultural education. However, some factors may problematize educators’ attempts at making use of Islamic ethics including the additional burden of reflecting alternative knowledges while attending to contextual factors (class size, the course’s orientation, exams, time constraints, etc.) and the lack of sufficient training in intercultural education. (shrink)

Based on the Lotka–Volterra system, a pest-natural enemy model with nonlinear feedback control as well as nonlinear action threshold is introduced. The model characterizes the implementation of comprehensive prevention and control measures when the pest density reaches the nonlinear action threshold level depending on the pest density and its change rate. The mortality rate of the pest is a saturation function that strictly depends on their density while the release of natural enemies is also a nonlinear pulse term depending on (...) the density of real-time natural enemies. The exact impulsive and phase sets are given. The definition and properties of the Poincaré map corresponding to the pulse points on the phase set are provided. We investigate the existence and stability of boundary and interior order-1 periodic solution. The theoretical analysis developed in the present paper combined with nonlinear controlling measures as well as nonlinear action threshold methods and techniques laid the foundation for the establishment and analysis of other state-dependent feedback control models. (shrink)

On Western philosophy from the point of view of Burmese philosophers.