Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder or Conversion Disorder, is a fairly common diagnosis among mental health patients in Pakistan. Despite its prevalence there's a dearth of research on the phenomenon, particularly on the experience of FNSD. The study was conducted with the aim to ascertain the lived experiences of individuals with Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder around stressful situations in their families in Pakistan. For this purpose, a total sample of 10 participants were recruited from the psychiatry department of a tertiary care (...) hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The two main themes revealed in the analyses were quarrels and unexpressed emotions. The sub-themes of quarrels included quarrels with family members, quarrels within family, parental/marital discord, and quarrels with extended family members. The subthemes for unexpressed emotions were hurt, anger, sadness, and jealousy. In conclusion, this study revealed that in Pakistan, stressors related to family serve as significant contributing factors in the development of FNSD. (shrink)

Affect, Embodiment and Place in Critical Literacy: Assembling Theory and Practice is a notable contribution to bringing theory and practice together in literacy education by offering a posthuman ap...

Digital Voice Assistants have become a ubiquitous technology in today’s home and childhood environments. Inspired by original study on how children’s ontological conceptualizations of life and technology were systematically associated with their real-world exposure to robotic entities, the current study explored this association for children in their middle childhood and with different levels of DVA-exposure. We analyzed correlational survey data from 143 parent–child dyads who were recruited on ‘Amazon Mechanical Turk’. Children’s ontological conceptualization patterns of life and technology were measured (...) by asking them to conceptualize nine prototypical organically living and technological entities with respect to their biology, intelligence, and psychology. Their ontological conceptualization patterns were then associated with their DVA-exposure and additional control variables. Compared to biology and psychology, intelligence was a less differentiating factor for children to differentiate between organically living and technological entities. This differentiation pattern became more pronounced with technological affinity. There was some evidence that children with higher DVA-exposure differentiated more rigorously between organically living and technological entities on the basis of psychology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study exploring children’s real-world exposure to DVAs and how it is associated with their conceptual understandings of life and technology. Findings suggest although psychological conceptualizations of technology may become more pronounced with DVA-exposure, it is far from clear such tendencies blur ontological boundaries between life and technology from children’s perspective. (shrink)

This study is an effort to determine the status of Christian feminist theology in Pakistan and discusses the issues and challenges of patriarchal control of Church and religious, political, social, and minority issues faced by Christian women in Pakistan. It traces the history of Christian feminist theology in Pakistan as well. This qualitative study looks at important texts written on Christian theology, Christian feminism, and history of Church in Pakistan and also presents findings of in-depth interviews with women associated with (...) Church in Pakistan. (shrink)

Probability distributions play an essential role in modeling and predicting biomedical datasets. To have the best description and accurate prediction of the biomedical datasets, numerous probability distributions have been introduced and implemented. We investigate a novel family of lifetime probability distributions to represent biological datasets in this paper. The proposed family is called a new flexible logarithmic- X family. The suggested NFLog- X family is obtained by applying the T- X method together with the exponential model having the PDF m (...) t = e − t. Based on the NFLog- X approach, a three parameters probability distribution, namely, a new flexible logarithmic-Weibull distribution is introduced. The method of maximum likelihood estimation is adopted for estimating the parameters of the NFLog- X family. In the end, we examine three different biological datasets in order to give a thorough numerical research that illustrates the NFLog-Wei distribution. Comparisons are made between the analytical goodness-of-fit metrics of the suggested distribution. We made comparison with the alpha power transformed Weibull, exponentiated Weibull, Weibull, flexible reduced logarithmic-Weibull, and Marshall–Olkin Weibull distributions. After performing the analyses, we observe that the proposed method outclassed other competitive distributions. (shrink)

The uses of statistical distributions for modeling real phenomena of nature have received considerable attention in the literature. The recent studies have pointed out the potential of statistical distributions in modeling data in applied sciences, particularly in financial sciences. Among them, the two-parameter Lomax distribution is one of the prominent models that can be used quite effectively for modeling data in management sciences, banking, finance, and actuarial sciences, among others. In the present article, we introduce a new three-parameter extension of (...) the Lomax distribution via using a class of claim distributions. The new model may be called the Lomax-Claim distribution. The parameters of the Lomax-Claim model are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method. The behaviors of the maximum likelihood estimators are examined by conducting a brief Monte Carlo study. The potentiality and applicability of the Lomax claim model are illustrated by analyzing a dataset taken from financial sciences representing the vehicle insurance loss data. For this dataset, the proposed model is compared with the Lomax, power Lomax, transmuted Lomax, and exponentiated Lomax distributions. To show the best fit of the competing distributions, we consider certain analytical tools such as the Anderson–Darling test statistic, Cramer–Von Mises test statistic, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test statistic. Based on these analytical measures, we observed that the new model outperforms the competitive models. Furthermore, a bivariate extension of the proposed model called the Farlie–Gumble–Morgenstern bivariate Lomax-Claim distribution is also introduced, and different shapes for the density function are plotted. An application of the bivariate model to GDP and export of goods and services is provided. (shrink)

This paper examines the way in which recent criticisms of the work of primary school teachers in Britain, most notably those entailed in and following the publication of the so-called 'Three Wise Men's Report', have attempted to redefine the professional identity of early years teachers. The paper objects to the manner in which their critiques have been formulated and calls upon educational researchers to adopt a less reverential attitude to government proposals for the reform of primary education in general and (...) early years schooling in particular. (shrink)

This study aims to identify the influence of knowledge management practices on the entrepreneurial and organizational performance with the mediating effect of dynamic capabilities and moderating role of opportunity recognition. Data were gathered from 486 entrepreneurs and applied a structural equation model to test the hypotheses. We found that knowledge management practices have a positive and significant influence on dynamic capabilities, as well as have a significant impact on entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Moreover, results indicated that dynamic capabilities partially mediate (...) in the relationship between knowledge management practices on entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Furthermore, the relationship between knowledge management practices with entrepreneurial and organizational performance strengthening by opportunity recognition. Further, implications and limitations were discussed in the paper. (shrink)

During the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, stress and anxiety were pervasive among the masses due to high morbidity and mortality. Besides the fear of coronavirus was also particularly driven by social media. Many people started to look for faith and spiritual connections to gain comfort. The role of spiritual ties and religious beliefs in relation to coping with pandemic stress gained the attention of researchers in some parts of the world. This cross-sectional survey aimed at assessing the intensity (...) of stress and anxiety symptoms experienced by people and how much they were alleviated by employing spiritual connections. The study sample comprises 795 respondents with 52% males and 48% females living in Saudi Arabia. The brief online study questionnaire collected data about background variables, anxiety and stress scale from DASS-21, and items from the WHOQOL instrument assessed the use of spiritual beliefs to cope. Multiple regression models were tested to determine the role of spiritual connections after adjusting demographic variables. Results illustrated that after adjusting for gender and age, participants' anxiety symptoms decreased by units with each unit increase in the use of spiritual connections, and participants’ stress symptoms reduce by units with each unit increase in coping with spirituality. Additionally, females’ risk to experience anxiety and stress symptoms was more than males and, respectively. An increase in age decreases the likelihood of experiencing anxiety symptoms and stress symptoms by and units respectively. Findings support the protective role of spiritual connections despite small beta coefficients. The social and cultural context in Saudi Arabia favors deep-rooted connections with spirituality and faith. Our findings support that the reliance on spiritual connections helped older people to deal with exaggerated fear during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduces the risk of experiencing anxiety and stress symptoms. Females and younger participants were relatively vulnerable to developing these symptoms. We discussed these findings considering some recent studies that reported similar relationships and made recommendations for future research. (shrink)

This communique presents the Q-S synchronization of two nonidentical complex nonlinear hyperchaotic systems with unknown parameters. An adaptive controller based on adaptive integral sliding mode control and parameter update laws are designed to realize the synchronization and parameter identification to a given map vector. The aforementioned strategy’s employment demands the transformation of a system into a specific structure containing a nominal part and some unknown terms. An integral sliding mode controller is used to stabilize the error system by designing nominal (...) control accompanied by compensator control. For chattering suppression, a continuous compensator of smooth nature is used instead of conventional control. The stability of the proposed algorithm is established in an impressive way, using Lyapunov criteria. A numerical simulation is performed to illustrate the validity of the proposed synchronization scheme. (shrink)

The proposed work describes an approach for segmentation of activated sludge flocs from the microscopic images for monitoring wastewater treatment. The morphological features of flocs and filaments are related to the state of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant and must be monitored for proper functioning. Hence, image processing and analysis could be a time-saving monitoring tool. To address this challenge, we propose a novel framework involving a multiphase edge detection algorithm based on information theory. The proposed framework is evaluated (...) and scrutinized critically considering the artifacts found in the photographs tested. To evaluate the segmentations, gold approximation of estimated truth images is created. In addition, the performance was subjectively evaluated for its potential for segmenting activated sludge images. Experimental results show that the proposed framework exhibits the good results and demonstrates its effectiveness. (shrink)

This study reveals that increases in the global population command an augmented demand for products and services that calls for more effective ways of using existing natural resources and materials. The recent development of information and communication technologies, which had a great impact on many areas, also had a damaging effect on the environment and human health. Therefore, societies are moving toward a greener future by reducing the consumption of nonrenewable materials, raw materials, and resources while at the same time (...) decreasing energy pollution and consumption. Since information technology is considered a tool for solving ecological difficulties, the green Internet of things is playing a vital role in creating a sustainable home. Extensive data analysis is required to obtain a valuable overview of the large and diverse data generated by the G-IoT. The gathered information will facilitate forecasting, decision-making, and other activities related to smart urban services and then contribute to the incessant development of G-IoT technology. Therefore, even if sustainable and smart cities become an actuality, the G-IoT approach and the knowledge gained through big data analysis will make cities more sustainable, safer, and smarter. The goal of this article is to combine innovation in technological development with the main focus on resource sharing in creating cities that improve the quality of life while reducing pollution and realizing more efficient use of the raw materials. In the practice of big data science, it is always of interest to provide the best description of the data under consideration. Recent studies have pointed out the applicability of the statistical distributions in modeling data in applied sciences. In this article, we introduce a new family of statistical models to provide the best description of the life span of the wireless sensors network’s data. Based on the proposed approach, a special submodel called new exponent power-Weibull distribution is studied in detail. The applicability of the proposed model is shown by analyzing the life span of the wireless sensors network’s data. (shrink)

The general knowledge and understanding that every teacher of religion and science should have relative to chemistry can be found in the answers to three major questions. In my own response to the first question, How did chemistry emerge as a discipline? I trace the origins, establishment, and subsequent historical significance of cosmology. I contend that chemistry is “the obvious, oldest science” and, as such, has played a key role among the sciences in agelong human efforts to understand reality. In (...) my response to the second question, How do chemists currently view (cosmic) reality? I outline three prominent examples in support of my contention that chemistry, despite being “the obvious, oldest science,” is seen by some as playing only a tacit role in current efforts to (re)integrate religion and science. In my response to the third question, How do chemists currently view ultimate reality and meaning? I argue that “unifiers” in chemistry can also now play a key role in a reality revolution that is pointing humankind not only toward a possible historical (re) integration of religion and science but also toward a return to cosmology. (shrink)